


Cloak of the Qilin

by Kira_Dattei



Series: The Deva Chronicles Universe [2]
Category: No. 6 - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Don't Have to Know Canon, Established Relationship, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 68,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23977114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kira_Dattei/pseuds/Kira_Dattei
Summary: Core: a kernel of power that grants the person it awakens within abilities.Oni: people who use the abilities they gain from their cores to harm others.Devas: an organization of people who fight the Oni and protect civilians.It's been six months since Nezumi and Shion last faced off against Oni, since Shion had the impossible happen by gaining a fourth core and things aren't going as well as they'd hoped. Something's wrong with Shion and there's an old threat hovering on the edge of their peripherals that is about to become a much bigger deal.Unlike most of the fics in this series, this is a direct sequel to the events of Mist of the Siren and so it helps to have read that one first.
Relationships: Nezumi/Shion (No. 6)
Series: The Deva Chronicles Universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1216821
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. To Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!  
> Well, finished another fic in this series, though this is the first one that isn't necessarily connected with the overarching plot of the series. While it will bring development to Shion and Nezumi's progress between Mist of the Siren and Mark of the Ouroboros, that's the extent of the focus.  
> Just like always, this isn't a WIP. I have finished the fic and will be posting one chapter a week, updates to happen on Saturdays. This fic is also a bit shorter than what the series has averaged. It was a little weird to have wrapped things up in 12 chapters but that's what ended up happening so I'm going with it. ^_^  
> Thank you for reading, hope you enjoy the fic, and I'll see you next week.

Nezumi sat upright in bed, his hand automatically reaching for the knife he kept in reach on his bedside table and moving to flip it open when he realized what had woken him up and he let out a deep sigh. He let go of the knife and rubbed both hands down his face and then through his hair, working free the few knots he snagged on to help wake himself up a little more.

He doubted he’d be falling asleep soon anyway, not when he had to see to Shion.

Six months and Shion was still having nightmares. Sure, they weren’t happening nearly as often but it was still enough that Nezumi was wondering if this was going to get any better or if this was just what Shion’s life would be like.

Nezumi also figured part of the problem was that Shion never talked about his nightmares. Sure, he claimed that he didn’t remember them but Nezumi didn’t buy that. And maybe Nezumi was being a little unfair because dreams weren’t like when you were awake and just because Shion forgot very little when awake didn’t mean that his memory was perfect when he was asleep. But he also knew Shion, knew him better than Nezumi had ever known anyone, and he just got the feeling Shion was taking the path of least resistance with this, not talking about it so he didn’t burden Nezumi with his problems.

He was really weird like that, Nezumi thought satirically with an amused shake of his head.

Nezumi twisted his hair into a relaxed knot low at the back of his head and laid back down on his left side so he was facing Shion. Shion was laying facing toward him, curled up tightly as he usually was now that the temperature was dropping as fall was in full swing and his body lost heat easily. His expression was pinched in his sleep, his hands were clenched into his pillow, and his breathing was erratic.

So it was either his breathing or the tension that had woken Nezumi up.

Shion was a still sleeper even when in a nightmare and Nezumi was just really lucky he was such a light sleeper or he’d probably have no clue there was ever anything wrong with his partner’s sleep.

Nezumi rested his head on the edge of Shion’s pillow, his forehead barely brushing against Shion’s and he reached up with his right hand and placed it against Shion’s cheek, his fingers stroking lightly against the scarring that extended over his cheek.

Sometimes, this was enough to get Shion’s brain to shift to a different track and Nezumi wouldn’t have to wake his partner up. Considering how long it took for Shion to fall asleep, Nezumi tried to avoid waking him up.

After giving that about a minute to make a difference and it failing, Nezumi moved his hand to take hold of Shion’s, working his fingers free only for them to clamp down around his own hand and he allowed the thought that Shion’s grip had gotten stronger in the past few months.

He allowed Shion to keep a grip on his hand as he used his head to angle Shion’s so it was resting more on him than the pillow. He then tilted his head back so his mouth was closer to Shion’s ear. He spoke in a low tone, still trying to not wake him up. “Hey, Shion, I’m here. What are you thinking? What’s your brain doing to you?”

It was just about letting Shion hear his voice, letting him hear enough to latch onto and bring his mind out of whatever spiral it had gotten itself into.

Shion liked hearing Nezumi, he’d admitted plenty of times. Hell, most nights he fell asleep to Nezumi reading aloud.

The stress lines around Shion’s eyes were easing, the grip on Nezumi’s hand loosening.

Nezumi was getting ready to work his way out from under Shion’s cheek so he could get more comfortable while he made sure Shion didn’t just end up back in a nightmare when Shion suddenly woke up and bolted to an upright position with a gasp, luckily not headbutting Nezumi with his motion but he did drag Nezumi’s hand with him, yanking him forward some.

When that was the only motion Shion made for a good fifteen seconds, Nezumi tugged at his hand, letting Shion know he was awake. He was also pretty sure Shion didn’t actually realize he was holding onto Nezumi, his grip once again tight.

Shion’s whole body tensed at the movement. “Nezumi?” Shion whispered.

Nezumi propped his weight onto his left elbow, wanting to get a little closer but waiting to see what Shion did before he did anything more. “Who else would it be?” he chided back, working hard to keep his voice passive. “What woke you up?” he then asked, hoping that he could get something out of Shion before he woke up enough to close off.

Shion’s grip tensed briefly around Nezumi’s hand. “It hurt,” he said simply.

Nezumi considered himself lucky that he was experienced enough navigating Shion that he didn’t get frustrated with the non-answer. “You or someone else?”

Shion let out a weary sigh and then turned toward Nezumi as he laid back down, resting his head against Nezumi’s stomach as he freed his hand so he could drape his arm across Nezumi’s waist. Nezumi let out a brief sigh as he laid back against the pillows, letting Shion lay against him as he started running his fingers through his partner’s white hair, accepting that he’d already lost his chance to get an answer.

“You going to keep growing it out?” he asked absently, not actually expecting an answer as he felt Shion take measured breaths, the manner meditative.

Shion never allowed himself to let his mind remain unchecked, considered it too dangerous. He wasn’t completely wrong but Nezumi believed he had more leeway than Shion gave himself.

“I’m not sure you can pull off it getting much longer,” he continued, letting his voice remain relaxed and low in a way he knew Shion found soothing. “For one, yours knots easier than mine and that can become a pain for both of us. Then there’s how it’s already a beacon for attention and the more there is to hide the more irritating that will get. And short like this makes for such a good frame to the decreasing baby chub you’ve kept on despite being halfway to eighteen.” He let his fingers slide down Shion’s cheek to trace the bone that was gradually becoming more prominent as Shion’s features had started to match his age. He still looked younger than he was but the difference wasn’t as wide as it had been when they’d been reunited many months ago. “But that’s just my thoughts on it and you usually ignore that.”

“Am I a disappointment to you?” Shion suddenly asked him in a whisper, his voice weak in a way that Nezumi didn’t associate with his partner in the least.

Shion wasn’t weak. He was the strongest person Nezumi knew in the ways that mattered. Sure, Nezumi would always win in a fight against Shion but Shion could destroy every defense Nezumi had with a few words or even just the right look.

Nezumi’s other hand moved to the nape of Shion’s neck, his fingers slipping under the line of Shion’s shirt to brush along the scarring where it curved around his shoulder.

“What makes you think that?” he asked. “I figured I’d made enough of a habit of telling you exactly what I think about shit like that.”

“You have to stay here because of me, don’t you? You can’t move on, right?”

As experienced as Nezumi was with Shion’s sometimes erratic ways as his partner’s mind didn’t really work like anyone else’s, this was unusual and Nezumi was having trouble pinpointing what could be behind what brought this on. Shion was hard on himself but he didn’t make a habit of self-destruction.

“Are you looking for me to agree with you here, Shion?” he asked instead. “Want me to say that I’m tired of you, that I can’t believe I’m with someone so unworthy, that I’m looking for the first out I get and then I’m gone? Because if you want to hand me a script to follow, I’ll play along. Just know that the act stops once the lines are given. And then I expect to have my Shion back.”

Shion took in a shaky breath, emotional. Good, that was the direction Nezumi wanted him to go. Shion didn’t conceal anything very well once his emotions got going.

Nezumi let out a sigh and wished Shion was positioned a little higher so he could kiss him because Shion was really receptive and responsive to the more obvious signs that his relationship with Nezumi was unlike any other relationship he had. He wondered if Shion had done that on purpose with how he seemed to be beating himself up in the extreme right now.

“Shion, what the hell is going on? You don’t get like this. A bad day happens but this is going too far. You can doubt yourself; everybody does. But don’t you dare doubt that our affinity is anything less than real and honest. Why would I put in all the work to make sure it became stable if I thought any of that or didn’t want to be with you? I don’t waste my time on what I don’t want and you know that.”

Shion squeezed him tightly as he took in a shuddering breath.

“I’m requiring an answer: what’s going on?”

Shion’s shoulders gave a shrug. “I’m not sure. I was trying to calm down and the thoughts wouldn’t go away.”

“Did it have to do with the nightmares you keep having that you claim aren’t a big deal? Because I consider something like that a big deal.”

“No, and they aren’t a big deal. I’ve always had nightmares, Nezumi, as many as can be expected from someone who was a Deva at the age of thirteen. And considering all that’s happened in the past year, it is only expected that I experience many.”

“I’ll circle back around to that because I want to know what made you ask me if I thought you were a disappointment. That’s not like you and it isn’t something I want to see you make a habit of.”

“I really don’t know. I just couldn’t dismiss the thought as anything but the truth. But I know you don’t lie about things like that, not to me, and so I asked. If I could hear you say it, I wouldn’t believe it anymore.”

“That’s…concerning, Shion. That’s not something that can just be left alone. You’re the one who keeps insisting that you can’t rely on your Dispel core to not latch onto that sort of thought and strike out.”

A few months ago, Shion had found multiple research reports that had declared that the Dispel disposition, with its general effect of negating core power, could have the ability of negating affinities between people. Shion had been worried that he had that ability and that was when he’d really started holding himself back, afraid that his core would strike out against his affinity with Nezumi. The connection between them was barely stable, having been created when they were weak and struggling against the connection forming and it had been slow to improve. Even now, they didn’t seem to have any abilities develop because of their affinity and that, to Shion more than Nezumi, indicated it wasn’t a strong connection.

Frustrated by Shion’s thoughts in a way Nezumi wouldn’t have been able to explain if anyone asked, he took hold of Shion on his sides and pulled at him, sliding Shion’s body so he was lined up along the length of Nezumi’s torso and his head was near Nezumi’s. He didn’t care immediately that Shion had kept his gaze down, that he just shifted so he was laying his head on Nezumi’s shoulder. Nezumi had just had enough of the distance. And once Shion was where Nezumi wanted him, Nezumi wrapped his arms around Shion’s back, holding him close and hoping it helped.

“Just don’t make it a habit to let it get that far.”

Shion didn’t respond, making Nezumi cautious that he hadn’t actually dissuaded the thought, that Shion was still struggling to accept that it wasn’t the truth. He turned to press his lips against Shion’s forehead like he’d wanted to do earlier and then shifted his position slightly to get just a little more comfortable as he held Shion.

Besides the nightmares, Nezumi had noticed other things that were making him more and more concerned about Shion that weren’t too far off of this exchange. Nezumi knew how Shion’s mind worked: he was as much a methodical researcher and scientist as he was an unfailing optimist. He looked for the best even when he had to settle for less. He was aware of his own capabilities even as he downplayed his merits.

He was a walking contradiction but he loved Nezumi unflinchingly and not even Nezumi knew when his partner had actually fallen for him.

All that aside, though, there was one aspect of their lives that put Shion in completely new territory, that was beyond any research he could rely on to help him and he’d looked extensively to make sure, Nezumi even helping without being asked. In a world that meant people could have cores of power interwoven into their systems that allowed them to be capable of things once considered impossible to humans, there had always only ever been a maximum of three different cores in any one person. Shion had four.

That had never been recorded before. Shion speculated that he likely wasn’t the first but no one else had cooperated with any sort of log or studies into how it affected them.

And Shion hadn’t indicated that he wanted that to change with him, maintaining that he had to keep the fourth core a secret.

So, Shion was on his own to figure it out and Nezumi thought he wasn’t doing so well. He was definitely doing better than most other people would if they were in his position but he was still struggling as far as Nezumi could tell and he’d had the fourth core for six months.

Shion was better than that and yet he’d just woken up and hadn’t been able to dismiss a negative thought. What if it was a sign that something was wrong?

Nezumi didn’t know enough about how cores or certain dispositions worked to say for sure and that bothered him. And it wasn’t like they had access to anything more than any civilian had which would exclude anything studied by the Devas or User Enforcement Agency for the sake of their responsibilities against Oni.

Shion shifted against him, just a slight repositioning and Nezumi started running his hand along Shion’s spine, up and then back down with a soothing amount of pressure. His breathing had slowed again but Nezumi knew that it was unlikely for Shion to fall asleep anytime soon.

Oh well, they didn’t have to be anywhere right away in the morning. Hopefully, they’d sleep in and then Nezumi could figure out what to do about this. He was done letting it sit.

There had once been a time where he would have been content to let it be ignored, to just let whatever was going to happen take its course, but that wasn’t what he did now, especially not when it came to Shion. Shion had his entire commitment and he’d do everything he could to make sure Shion stayed safe.

Nezumi wouldn’t make a good Qilin at all if he couldn’t manage keeping the person most important to him protected.

Sure, he didn’t really care about being a “good Qilin” but in this case it was the principle of the thing.

* * *

“What I don’t get is why you’re asking me. I’m not actually a specialist in cores,” Safu stated, seeming like she was only giving Nezumi enough of her focus to claim she was listening as she was reading through one of the many textbooks spread out in front of her.

“You specialize in how the brain works and that’s close enough to get me started,” Nezumi replied, barely managing to keep his annoyance with her from showing.

They didn’t get along, at least not to the degree Shion had hoped from his best friend and his partner. But Safu thought that Nezumi wasn’t right for Shion and Nezumi didn’t try to make nice with people that judged him blindly. They had a decent conversation when they were hanging out with Shion but that was for Shion’s sake more than anything and they never sought out each other’s company.

Until today, that is.

Shion had gone to help his mom out at her bakery and Nezumi had decided to take advantage of Shion’s distraction to talk with Safu and maybe get a heading for figuring out what was going on.

After all, Safu’s education and intelligence to rival Shion’s aside, she was the only one besides the two of them that knew about Shion’s fourth core. Shion had claimed it was because she would know he was lying and while that was likely part of it, Nezumi believed it was because Shion wanted to be able to talk to his best friend about what he was going through.

Nezumi understood: he loved Shion but that didn’t make him automatically good at knowing the right thing to say for comfort or to be helpful.

“People have bad days. Since when does that mean there’s something seriously wrong? If that was the case, you would have been committed long ago.”

“Can you just forget for a minute that you don’t like me and make this about Shion like I’m trying to?”

Safu glanced up at him, observing him with her unsettlingly – even to Nezumi – intelligent gaze. After a few seconds, she let out a sigh as she slid her book away from her a little and straightened her posture to appear as though he really did have all her attention. “Alright, if you insist. What are you seeing that indicates there might be something affecting Shion?”

“I guess the easy answer would be he’s a hell of a lot more anxious now. He’s been researching like crazy but not actually putting what he’s looking up into practice.”

“He doesn’t always need to try things out.”

“Even if it’s about his Mirror core?” Nezumi clarified and that at least seemed to catch Safu’s attention. “He’s got a good handle on his Dispel core and he’s getting better about the Wraith core but he hasn’t done anything with the Mirror core and by his own determining that’s the one that he needs to have the most precise control over.”

“Is that why he hasn’t applied to the U.E.A. yet? He said he was thinking about it and had talked to you about it.”

“Yeah, that’s why. If we went to apply to the U.E.A. and the right disposition saw us, that’s all it would take for him to be discovered. I have nothing against working for them. Actually, I think their resources would be good for Shion to have available to him. But his secrecy comes first.”

“Of course. So, why do you think that he’s avoiding the Mirror core as he is?”

Nezumi shrugged as he leaned back in the chair. “Fear would be my first guess. He’s used it once and it was extremely painful for him and it was when he was trying to keep me alive and fight off Oni. And he had problems trying to get a handle on his Dispel and Wraith cores so it wouldn’t be the first time. But this just doesn’t seem like it’s the same thing.”

Safu sighed and gave an exasperated shake of her head. “So, do you think fear is actually a factor here or not? You keep dismissing everything before we have a chance to pursue it as an option.”

“So you do get why I’m talking to you. Good, that should save us some time.”

Safu pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered, “This isn’t worth it. What does he even see in you?”

Nezumi leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “I’m easy on the eyes,” he replied smoothly.

He had plenty of answers to that particular question of varying degrees of seriousness; after all, it was something he asked himself whenever he witnessed any indication of the endurance of Shion’s purity, regardless of all that had happened to him and all he had seen. If Nezumi had gone through the same experiences – regardless of his own history – he would have come out the other side much darker and jaded. Shion wasn’t. He seemed to absorb the experience while the core of who he was remained completely intact.

Nezumi frowned a little more at that particular thought: what if that was part of the problem here? What if Shion’s nature was getting in his way of getting past whatever he was struggling with now?

“What did you just realize?” Safu asked and Nezumi had to acknowledge that the young lady really was talented at reading people, even someone as closed as he was.

“Have you ever noticed something really get to Shion?” he asked, hoping that would get him _something_ to indicate he was on the right track.

Safu looked irritated again by not getting an answer but she moved past it easily enough as she looked thoughtful for a moment. “In what way? I mean, you know that Shion isn’t very good at handling strong emotions. It’s a combination of his intelligence getting in the way and that he insisted his mom teach him how to filter his emotions so he doesn’t form affinities.”

Nezumi was fully aware of that considering it was what Shion had done on his end to keep them from forming an affinity for a long time while Nezumi was employing his own tactics. But then it had been a complete loss of control on Shion’s part that had resulted in the bond that took hold between them being unstable. They were only barely to a point of stability even after so long with the connection existing.

It usually didn’t take that long.

“Anything that you thought was beyond your expectations of how Shion would react.”

“Shion doesn’t react. ‘Reacting’ implies a lack of thought, something automatic. Shion responds. He takes in all the details and considers his options before choosing the best course based on his observations.”

“Huh, strange that I see his awakening of a fourth core because of the dangerous situation to himself and me as him reacting to the situation. That was sort of the problem.”

“Well, I didn’t see that, did I? And you asked for something I’ve seen.” She looked thoughtful again and that allowed Nezumi to hold back from retorting. “I guess those few days after he got out of the hospital were about as rough as I’ve ever seen him. He was just…raw. If you have any understanding of Shion, you are aware that he doesn’t really do well when he doesn’t feel he has direction. When we were children, it was helping his mom and making sure he kept up his grades so his mom didn’t have to worry about him. When his Clairvoyant core awakened, it was becoming proficient enough that he could become a Deva. When he became a Deva, it was making sure he did his job to the best of his ability so he was never a burden to those he worked with. And then he wasn’t a Deva anymore.”

Nezumi remembered all too well the first day he’d seen Shion after he’d been released from the hospital after being attacked by Oni, which instead of his death resulted in him becoming a Chimera. As a Chimera, he wasn’t allowed to be a Deva. He remembered walking into Shion’s room and having to stop himself from rushing to Shion’s side, feeling like he was in danger but from something that Nezumi couldn’t protect him from: himself. And considering how early it was after their reunion and how much Nezumi was struggling to come to terms with how he felt about the other teen, he’d also nearly left to avoid the instinct he didn’t completely understand.

But to have Safu, who had known Shion for most of his life, lay that out like she had was a big help. He and Shion didn’t really talk about their lives before they met and Nezumi knew his partner well enough that he understood it wasn’t something Shion would have paid much attention to anyway.

So if the problems Shion was having now was a result of not having any direction, what could Nezumi do to help him find it? And could it really be as simple as that or was there something else that they just couldn’t see? Could Nezumi actually be of any use for something like helping Shion find guidance considering he was about as much of a nomad as there could be in the modern world. He’d only stayed here as long as he had because of Shion, after all.

It was reasonably unfair that he was failing at the one thing he was here for, he thought ruefully. He didn’t like failing, either.

He wouldn’t. He’d figure it out. He’d help Shion get through whatever was causing him to suffer so much. It would just take some extra work of the kind he was still adjusting to.

Damnit, he still wasn’t really good at talking and emotional crap, even with Shion. He was better about just being honest with Shion but that didn’t mean he was good about actually bringing anything up.

He might have to be the instigator with this.

Nezumi wasn’t sure if he’d prefer to keep this awkward conversation with Safu going or bring up the topic with Shion.

“It looks like you’ve come to a decision,” Safu mused. “You’re not going to update me on this, are you?” She sounded like she didn’t even expect an answer now.

He shrugged noncommittally. “I guess if it comes up again or if what I try doesn’t work out. Ask Shion: I don’t make promises I won’t be able to keep.”

“Of course not. Wouldn’t want to make commitments if you can avoid it.”

“Hardly. I just don’t want people to rely on something they shouldn’t. Besides, it’s not like I’m swimming in people clamoring for a promise.”

“No, just the one who deserves all the promises one can give.”

Nezumi tried to not get too irritated with that attempt at a dig at him. After all, Safu wouldn’t know all that he’d promised to Shion because Shion wouldn’t bring it up and tell. It was between them and Shion valued that too much.

“Presumptuous of you to say,” he shot back. So he had tried but wasn’t completely successful in restraining the rise of anger. “And you wonder why I don’t want to talk to you.” Nezumi moved to stand, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets right away. "I guess I’ll see you around.”

“I suppose. Tell Shion I said ‘hi’. It’ll make him happy to know we talked enough for me to give you even that.”

She was right: Shion would be very happy and that was enough for Nezumi to at least consider passing along the greeting.


	2. Contact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where to go...

Nezumi stepped into the apartment he shared with Shion, noting that Shion’s shoes were set in their usual place off to the side of the door as Nezumi took off his own. He was still getting used to taking his shoes off when he got home, his old place not being insulated enough to do without shoes for most of the year so he just hadn’t ever bothered. And Shion had let him mostly get away with it, only giving him reminders when he was in view of the entryway when Nezumi would forget.

As Nezumi walked further into the apartment, he noticed the strong scent of bread and sweets that usually followed them home whenever they would spend time at Karan’s bakery. Hoping that Shion kept to the norm by bringing something home with him, Nezumi headed for the kitchen. Not only did smelling food remind him he was hungry but he also wanted to make sure that one he was in the same room as Shion, he wanted to cut back on the possible reasons he would have to leave. It was something he’d gotten used to in the early weeks of their affinity where they had to be close to each other for the connection to stabilize and solidify.

There was a bag from the bakery on the counter and Nezumi looked inside to see a sandwich wrapped up and waiting with a note from Karan for him, telling him that she hoped the next time Shion stopped by that Nezumi would be with him.

Nezumi wondered every once in a while if he would have formed an affinity with Karan if she could have them. As a Warp, it was dangerous for her to have affinities so she knew how to not let them form. And she had opened her home and heart to him easily, then even more once the connection between him and Shion had formed. It was like she had simply accepted him in their lives and Nezumi was sure she saw him as much of a son as Shion was. He sure knew he wouldn’t mind that.

Hell, even Inukashi had a soft spot for Karan – and Shion to a lesser degree – and she didn’t have a soft spot for anyone but her dogs.

Nezumi ate half the sandwich and put the other half in the fridge, there being enough meat and vegetables to fill him. He downed a glass of water and then headed for the bedroom.

He passed by Shion’s office on the way, glancing in to make sure his partner hadn’t found some research journal to get lost in and was relieved to see the computer off and the desk in there clean. Because when Shion was in the middle of something, he tended to make a mess, having practically everything involved within sight.

So he continued to their bedroom, noticing that the light in the room was on so at least Shion was awake. He pushed the door open all the way, revealing Shion on the bed laying on his stomach with a book opened in front of him. And it didn’t look like a textbook so at least he was reading something for leisure. Good, he needed to do more shit just for the hell of it.

Nezumi slipped his jacket off and tossed it onto the back of the chair at the small desk they had in the corner. He changed into some looser clothes he’d be more comfortable in to sleep, all without him and Shion saying anything to each other. Though, knowing Shion, it was still about fifty-fifty if he even realized that Nezumi was home. Shion tended to really let his attention slip when he was at home, especially since he was reading.

Walking over to the bed and setting the knife he kept on his bedside table in its usual spot, Nezumi sat down and then turned to lay on his side to face Shion, sliding in close so his front was lined up with his partner’s side. He caught a soft smile lift Shion’s lips and so at least he knew he was there. Nezumi held his weight up on his left elbow as his right arm extended over Shion’s waist, squeezing briefly for a version of an embrace and then he lined his fingers up with Shion’s spine and slipped his hand under the bottom of Shion’s shirt so he was touching warm, soft skin. He leaned forward and pressed a brief kiss to Shion’s neck.

“I didn’t think I’d beat you home,” Shion mused even as he angled his head a little to the side to allow Nezumi’s lips.

This was a part of their relationship that Nezumi had admittedly struggled to keep at Shion’s pace for. It had been like that first kiss he shared with Shion opened the floodgates of his desire to touch the other teen, and that was coming from a point of already being more tactile with Shion than he’d been with anyone else. He was a man who looked to action to prove things, placing very little stock in words alone so it was difficult for him to have to slow down his actions to allow Shion to become comfortable with being with someone physically, something he’d never been close to experiencing before.

But once they’d passed that first time, Shion had latched onto it, the comfort he gained from Nezumi’s touch coming forward and it became as common for Shion to initiate contact with a steady increase in him actually instigating sex as time passed.

And when Nezumi was close to Shion like this, it was easier for him to say things he still held back when there was distance between them.

“Safu says hi,” Nezumi relayed his message by way of telling Shion where he’d been.

That got Shion to turn away from his book and give Nezumi a questioning look. Nezumi just took advantage of the shift in position to give Shion a proper kiss as his hand trailed up and down Shion’s back. Shion accepted the kiss easily, letting Nezumi get it out of his system.

And Nezumi managed to keep it relatively brief for now, keeping in mind that he wanted to talk with Shion and it was important.

He eased out of the kiss after only a short time tasting Shion and then elaborated, “Yeah, miracles happen and I talked to her today.”

“What about?” Shion asked and Nezumi heard the caution in his voice. Never let it be said that Shion was actually an idiot. Absentminded, yes, and Nezumi would say whatever he wanted in teasing, but Shion really was not stupid, especially when it came to the people he cared about.

“You, of course. What else would the two of us talk about?” he finished with a smirk as Shion let out a sigh and looked back toward the book but obviously wasn’t reading. “I told her about last night.”

“What did she say?”

“Nothing I didn’t already know but I guess needed to hear a different way: that you have issues functioning when you don’t have something to focus on.”

Shion’s fingers started fidgeting, a sign of nervousness when he was avoiding his usual tell of pulling at his hair. “I have plenty to focus on, Nezumi.”

“‘Plenty’ to avoid focusing on you mean. Or am I not supposed to notice that you’ve stopped practicing using your Dispel and Wraith cores and haven’t activated your Mirror core once since the night it awakened.” Shion’s cheeks were dusting pink and his whole body was now tense. Nezumi resumed rubbing his hand up and down Shion’s spine, making a point of soothing his partner by only adding enough pressure to release tension where he felt it coiled. “Last night you couldn’t dismiss a thought without me telling you it was wrong. That’s not an issue you have, not with the sort of thought you were dealing with. Sure, you’ve struggled because of the cores you ended up with but you’ve always managed to get past whatever has you hung up and prove that you’re about the most capable person there is. Hell within a few hours of a fourth core awakening in you, you were confident it wouldn’t be a problem, that you would be able to learn. What happened to that?”

Shion let out a shuddering breath and Nezumi shifted closer, resting much of the weight of his torso on Shion’s back and side so he could loop his left arm around Shion’s shoulders in front of him, his hand sliding up to cup Shion’s neck and hold him close. Shion reached up with his left hand to cover Nezumi’s and squeezed. He was taking deep breaths that Nezumi knew was him making sure he didn’t become too emotional, so his cores didn’t start looking for a threat. They shouldn’t consider Nezumi a threat, connected as they were, but it was like Shion didn’t trust in that anymore.

“Having a fourth core, there’s a reason it doesn’t happen, that it’s considered to be impossible and every case I look at that studies the effects of a Chimera with three cores supports how dangerous it is, how much strain it puts on the mind and body. They lose control, their bodies break down under the strain, their minds stop being able to function because of how much concentration it requires to control that much power, and their lifespans have a much shorter expectancy by a matter of decades. And that’s what I’ve found for those with three cores. How much worse must it be for there to be four?

“Cores still operate under a set of rules. All cores have checks and balances, limitations as if to prove that they exist within mere humans. The rarest and strongest dispositions always come with the most severe risks. The Mirror disposition carries with it the risk of every disposition it comes in contact with. I could suffer permanent damage because of someone else’s disposition.

“Then there is the risk to you being connected to me. What if the connection between our cores that makes up our affinity means that you suffer because of me? I can’t stand to be the reason you get hurt. Not again.”

Nezumi applied pressure to Shion’s cheek, angling his head back a little before turning him to face him again, sighing as Shion clenched his eyes shut. “Now would be a damn good time for you to listen to what I’m saying, Shion because I really fucking mean it.” Nezumi waited Shion out, waited until he saw the red eyes he was so consistently fascinated with but couldn’t get away with looking into as much as he’d want. He was honestly surprised that he managed to outlast Shion in this, his partner being the one with a much higher level of patience. It was an indication of how important this was to Nezumi and Shion had to understand that. When Shion’s eyes slid open cautiously, Nezumi leaned forward enough to give him a brief, soft kiss before he continued. “You have never been the one to hurt me. Cut me off from my cores, sure, but that was just an inconvenience and really annoying. But you haven’t hurt me. Ever. That’s always been Oni. And if you don’t get that through your head, I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you get the message.”

They fell into silence, grey eyes locked insistently on red ones and for once Nezumi felt like more was being said between them right now even as they didn’t speak. They had always had to rely heavily on words, their levels of communication not quite synched even as there were ways they understood each other uniquely. But this was them continuing to communicate, relaying those things to each other that was just too difficult to find the words for.

Eventually, Shion’s eyes slid closed, though it wasn’t an avoidance now. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against Nezumi’s for a few more silent moments before he spoke again. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Nezumi. I haven’t ever since I left the Devas. I stumbled into figuring out my Dispel and Wraith cores and the Oni who tried to kill me. But I have no direction. And I’m running out of ways to deal with that. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know where I’d be.”

“Still in the room above your mom’s bakery,” Nezumi chided back easily, relieved that Shion was finally talking to him. “How about this: tell me what you want.”

Shion opened his eyes and pulled away enough for a curious look to be seen clearly. “What I want?”

“Yeah, you know, something that isn’t necessary to survival but just something you want.”

“Like what?”

Nezumi rolled his eyes. “If I told you it would defeat the purpose, you airhead. I can’t tell you what you want. That’s something that’s completely on you.”

Shion paused before he pulled back a little more. “Then what about something you want.”

“I asked first,” Nezumi responded immediately even as he felt he had to buy himself more time to even give an answer.

“And I don’t know what to say. Besides, you’re better about the…malleable aspects of life. I need specifics, guidelines to work from.”

That was true.

Nezumi smirked as he leaned in toward Shion’s neck again and nipped at the sensitive skin of his scarring and Shion gasped shortly. “I guess ‘you’ goes without saying.”

“It does,” Shion replied shortly but not without indication that he’d been affected by the show of affection.

Nezumi allowed the levity to pass, knowing that Shion really did need him to answer here and he used his closeness to Shion’s scent and warmth to act as a balm to the difficult subject he was about to bring up. “I want to accomplish what I was trying to do when we met.”

Shion’s shoulders tensed. “Find the Oni who killed your village and family,” Shion declared.

They’d talked about Nezumi’s past once, Shion seeming to understand it was difficult for Nezumi to discuss and so had left it up to Nezumi to bring up if he wanted. And he’d been told pretty much everything so there wasn’t much else to talk about so that probably helped him not feel as strong of curiosity about the topic.

“I’d figured it wouldn’t be something I would settle, especially after our affinity formed. And not because I was tied down or any shit like that. It was just a shift in priority about a lead that went cold long ago.” Because he still hadn’t heard anything new from Inukashi about the Oni and that sort of hammered it home even more that he’d lost his opportunity now that he had someone he was connected with. He couldn’t accept just taking off to handle his own thing that very well may get him killed and become the reason Shion had suffered a loss like he had. And especially not now with what Shion was facing; Nezumi wasn’t confident that Shion was in the right state of mind to handle his current situation without help. Maybe he would have been able to figure out three cores on his own – and practically had – but not this fourth one.

“But you are still giving it up because of me, aren’t you?” Shion pressed, which Nezumi wasn’t surprised about. Shion got attached to ideas.

“In part but don’t go taking all the credit. I’ve been making my own decisions for a long time now, just like you. If I didn’t want this with you, I wouldn’t have made sure to do my part to make sure our affinity stabilized.” Nezumi dropped another kiss to the side of Shion’s mouth then whispered against them. “Since you appear to have forgotten, affinities rely on shared feelings. I care about you just like you care about me.”

He felt Shion smile slightly against him. “I didn’t forget.”

“Then you better cut back on the airhead statements that really make me question your supposed intelligence. So, that’s my answer. What’s yours?”

Shion was silent again and Nezumi let him think, knowing that he was considering it. It didn’t actually take as long as Nezumi thought it would for him to give his answer. “I want to be with you. And I want to be standing against the Oni again. I’ve never stopped wanting to be useful against them.”

And Nezumi wasn’t really surprised by the answer. Because he knew that Shion hadn’t _wanted_ to stop being a Deva. Being a Deva had been important to him. Becoming a Chimera hadn’t just made that go away and apparently neither had being with Nezumi, which he wouldn’t have expected. That was the sort of answer he’d been hoping for because it meant he could help Shion find his direction, get back on track so he could stop spinning out.

“Then we get to work. You can’t do anything against them as long as you’re hiding from your dispositions. Come on, you’re making progress holding your own against me when we spar. That can’t be any worse.” Nezumi wasn’t exaggerating there: he usually still won against Shion when they sparred but that was only because he was experienced and didn’t hesitate to land a finishing hit. Shion was good at paying attention, his Clairvoyance making him more accustomed to seeing the small details that gave away an attack and he was getting better at that knowledge translating into his body moving out of the way. Where he failed was in countering where he should. Shion was almost exclusively defensive and that was what they were working on when it came to Nezumi teaching Shion to fight.

“It wouldn’t have been enough for me to pass the courses for the Devas,” Shion replied.

Nezumi bit lightly at Shion’s lip in retaliation for how quickly he went to tear himself down, no matter that he was probably right; Devas had to be willing to do anything to stop the threat of an Oni, including taking their lives. Shion had killed an Oni and he still struggled to deal with it months later.

“We’re not talking about you becoming a Deva so what does it matter?”

“The User Enforcement Agency has similar requirements,” Shion retorted as he leaned back slightly from Nezumi’s teeth.

“Let’s not worry about the organizations right now. This is just us figuring out you getting some proficiency at your cores so you can be useful against the Oni again.”

Shion gave him an intense look, one that Nezumi was usually the one to be giving, and so Nezumi waited him out. “And what about what you want? What do we do about that?”

Nezumi shrugged. “Nothing we can do unless the trail heats up. Plain and simple. Besides…” Nezumi trailed off as he pushed into Shion, shifting his hold on his partner so that Shion rolled to his back and Nezumi positioned himself on top of the other teen, using his legs to part Shion’s so he could nestle his hips into the gap comfortably as his arms bracketed Shion’s head, his hands both burying into Shion’s hair. He then leaned forward to whisper in Shion’s ear, “…I want to be with you, too. That’s what I want more than anything else.”

Shion let out a sigh of “Okay” and his arms wrapped around Nezumi’s shoulders as he again pressed his lips against Shion’s, this time putting all the passion he’d been ignoring because he’d reached his limit there and knew that if he pushed too much now, Shion would stop listening, would pull away and then he’d be back to square one. So they were finished with the subject for the night but Nezumi would be bringing them right back to it in the morning.

That was when he’d really start helping Shion get his shit together. It was past time.

* * *

Fortunately, Shion slept better that night. Fortunate because Nezumi wanted to get started right away, figuring that any delay was a chance Shion could have to find some reason not to go along with his partner. Shion didn’t often try and avoid Nezumi so it was easy to forget that he was actually really good at it, his quick mind hyper focusing on the task meaning that he had about two dozen plans before Nezumi really got started on one. Nezumi wasn’t an idiot and was actually really good at strategizing himself but he was at a disadvantage when it came to just how quickly Shion processed information in comparison to pretty much anyone else with the exception of Safu.

Nezumi beat Shion awake, which helped further. He took a few minutes to satisfy an urge he usually ignored when Shion was awake by holding him close, enjoying the feel of Shion’s naked body pressed against his while being satisfied enough from the night before that he didn’t get caught up in arousal. He then eased Shion out of his hold and off of where he’d been sleeping on Nezumi’s chest so that he was resting on his pillow instead so he could stand. He slipped back into some casual pants and a loose shirt before heading toward the office and booting up Shion’s computer so he could get an idea of where to start of knowing what was put into Shion’s head with all the research he’d been doing.

Luckily, Shion saved everything. Just because he remembered everything he read didn’t mean he didn’t like having a way to organize the information visually or use the source document to help him focus on one specific thing without his mind straying.

But after a minute of looking at all the different documents organized throughout a multitude of folders, Nezumi couldn’t help but be impressed at the sheer amount. He always knew that Shion retained _a lot_ of information but to have a visual of a small portion of what his partner knew was staggering.

Just a brief look over all the folders revealed one for each of the dispositions – so, a few hundred folders for that alone – one just for Chimeras, affinities, studies into the effects of Oni activity on a user’s core, user psychology, and even one on statistical data collected for all of the above. Each folder had dozens if not hundreds of documents containing copies of articles from research journals, doctor’s reports, and even personal blogs and screenshots of conversation on social media.

Never let it be said that Shion would have been bad at being a scientist if he’d gone through with that route. Honestly, Nezumi was wondering if the world was going to miss out because Shion had become a user and left that career choice firmly in the dust. What could he have found for the world to benefit from before he had the opportunity to make a difference he could personally see?

There was no way Nezumi could go through enough here for it to feel useful. Even if he could see the date each file was saved and get an idea of how recently Shion had gone through each one, and Shion took notes on each document of points of interest for each one, it was just too much. Even the avid and fast reader Nezumi was, he knew his own limits.

Ready to accept there was an easier way to go about this, Nezumi was about to close out the window and find an easier way to do this when one of the folders he’d missed before caught his attention. It was a folder with the title _**S.H.**_ , the simplicity of it making it stand out now that Nezumi had seen it. And then he rolled his eyes at having missed it before: he really should have noticed a folder under Shion’s initials.

He opened the folder, the list of documents about as extensive as any of the other folders, the names of the files not helpful at all in knowing what was in them. He picked one at random and opened it,

A journal?

Nezumi frowned. Shion didn’t journal and had told Nezumi as much months ago when he’d randomly asked. He’d said that his mind just didn’t organize well enough when it came to putting his thoughts and feelings into words. Nezumi had made the joke that Shion’s brain moved too fast for his writing or typing speed to hope to keep up. Shion had laughed but then had looked thoughtful, like he was considering it to be the case.

Then maybe not so much a personal journal as a research journal for his own cores, something that he had plenty of interest in keeping track of.

_Clairvoyant: spots still block vision when trying to identify Oni. No improvement in 64 days._

_Dispel: pre-emptive barrier remains the focus of improvement. Duration of an active barrier holding continues to increase by 15 seconds daily. Barrier can be held for 212 minutes._

_Wraith: there is a high possibility of the aggression of this core being able to act on a smaller scale, severing the connections between a core and the user, making them lose abilities like I did because of the Plague. I can’t test it with the Glyph sheets Asaka supplies; I need an actual core and user. This will likely remain untested._

_Mirror: its preferred location is currently my lungs. I think it is charged predominantly by my circulatory system._

There was more to it, more details on specific abilities and some sort of measure of each core’s power readout that Nezumi didn’t know anything about so he couldn’t tell where Shion’s stood in comparison to the average. It was all very statistical, mostly data with hypotheses worked in randomly. Nothing that gave away Shion’s personal thoughts on his status.

Nezumi looked at the save date for the document: it was just over two months after Shion’s Mirror core had awakened and their affinity had formed. He looked through the list of documents until he saw one from just the previous week, noticing that over the past month there were longer gaps between the dates. He opened the document and figured this was the only one he’d really need to read. There was no statistics, no numbers, just…Shion.

_Mental stability is still deteriorating at a slow but steady pace. It doesn’t seem to be to the point of being noticeable in casual interactions but I’ve noticed a decrease in my ability to focus on tasks and how long it takes me to process information. I did a Sudoku puzzle a few days ago and it took me over a minute to finish. I had to read a paper that I read just the other day because I couldn’t remember everything in it exactly. I didn’t necessarily forget, but I couldn’t recall with certainty everything it said._

_The deterioration that I notice also seems to fluctuate in severity, indicating that my cores are continuing their natural operation of improving my general health even as they are the reason for the degradation. If I get the opportunity to test this ability without it alerting anyone, I’m going to try and use my Wraith or Dispel cores on myself and see if that will allow me to improve my status. If it doesn’t work, I’ll need to try and contact a Regen who has experience treating brain injuries. After all, as long as there is fluctuation, that means that healing is possible. And as long as nothing remains damaged for too long, it shouldn’t become permanent._

_I still doubt that I am the first person ever to have four cores awaken. While people are much more capable of handling cores now than even a few decades ago, I believe that the common limit of three cores in one person is a matter of the body knowing its limits much better than a person tends to. I have bypassed those limits and there may not be a way to avoid or escape these consequences._

_One person should not have this much power._

_No one can find out. If it were to make it to any official documentation, I feel like that Sidhe Oni would find out and he would come after me for a completely different reason. I can’t be the reason the Oni find a way to become even more of a threat to people. I’d rather lose my mind than help an Oni._

Nezumi sat away from the screen, leaning back in the chair as he rubbed his hands down his face with a heavy sigh. There was more written but he really didn’t want to read it. He’d known that Shion wasn’t in a good place mentally but now he knew why and it was so much worse than he’d figured.

The one thing that Shion believed he had to offer anyone – his mind – was literally failing. There were some dispositions that caused instability, sometimes even failure, in certain parts of the body. Like how Beholders and their ability to see into the past or the future had an extremely high likelihood of losing touch with the present and essentially became incapable of discerning when they were as opposed to what they saw. That was the sort of balance Shion had mentioned: the more a core went against the natural order of the world, the greater the balance, the more severe the negative affects it had on its user. Shion was suffering these affects even though his dispositions weren’t ones that were usually associated with such a thing as far as Nezumi knew.

It wasn’t right as far as Nezumi was concerned, though he could admit that the thought wasn’t coming from a place of calm reasoning. His protective instincts were kicking into overdrive and it was only helped along by his general belief that Shion was the last person that deserved to have anything bad happen to him and he’d thought that long before he admitted he loved him.

But the truth of the matter was that all this was exacerbated by one simple fact that Nezumi just couldn’t accept: Shion was in danger and Nezumi hadn’t known.

It also meant that he had no idea if there was _anything_ he could do that would help Shion. That was just wrong.


	3. Affinities 101

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nezumi tries to keep them moving forward...

“Nezumi, please stop staring at me. You’re making me nervous,” Shion complained. He was rinsing off the dishes from breakfast and Nezumi was sitting on the counter behind him, staring just as accused.

He couldn’t help it. His mind was preoccupied with what he’d read earlier and he wasn’t even trying to ignore his urge to be close to Shion right now, to be ready to protect him in an instant.

There was a time when he would blame his Qilin core for something like that but he’d long since stopped when it came to Shion, knowing that their affinity relied on him accepting his feelings toward the other teen.

But Shion didn’t know anything had changed and Nezumi wanted to keep it that way for now. He’d tell Shion he knew when it seemed like Shion was ready for him to know.

“What can I say? That ass just does it for me,” Nezumi teased and was grateful that he could be genuinely amused by the flush that spread across what he could see of Shion’s cheeks and neck from his angle. His partner would probably never be completely past getting flustered when Nezumi starting talking suggestively. At least Nezumi hoped he wouldn’t because that was just part of who Shion was. As long as it didn’t get in the way when they were actually in the middle of sex and that hadn’t happened in a while now.

“Except you’re not looking at my ass,” Shion retorted in a rush. “Is something wrong? You usually go do your own thing after breakfast.”

“I am doing my own thing. It just happens to be watching you this morning.” Shion’s blush, which had started to pass returned as he ducked his head, this time being a case of humility rather than embarrassment. Shion still had a level of dislike for his hair, eyes, and the scarring that wrapped around his body and so there were plenty of times where he got caught up in not thinking there was anything attractive for Nezumi to look at.

Shion finished off the dishes, shaking some of the excess water off his hands as he turned toward Nezumi, giving him a look that was as tolerant as it was shy and amused. Nezumi leaned forward and grabbed hold of Shion’s sleeve, just barely close enough to be in reach. Shion let him pull him over to him, stepping in so he was standing between Nezumi’s thighs as Nezumi cupped Shion’s cheeks with both hands, his thumb rubbing along the scar that came down under Shion’s left eye.

“I want you, remember,” Nezumi said in a low voice that caused a shiver to pass through Shion’s body.

He closed the remaining distance and kissed Shion passionately, wrapping one arm around Shion’s shoulders to hold him close as his tongue made a thorough exploration of his partner’s mouth, pressing against spots he knew Shion liked. And the short gasps Shion was taking in gave away that he was having the desired effect. Hands gripped at Nezumi’s hips and Shion leaned against the counter and Nezumi’s chest, then lifted his arms to wrap around Nezumi’s neck to pull himself as high as he could to meet Nezumi’s height or at least get closer.

Nezumi eased out of the kiss, reasonably satisfied as the intimate touch soothed his protective instincts, knowing that there was no way Shion could be hurt when being held in his arms.

Red eyes opened lazily and looked up at him, just watching him for a few quiet moments.

A shy smile lifted Shion’s lips before he pressed his face into Nezumi’s neck, his arms squeezing around Nezumi’s shoulders. When he spoke, he barely raised his voice enough to be understood. “If you don’t want to tell me what’s going on, you don’t have to. The elaborate distraction techniques aren’t required.”

Nezumi grinned. “Our sex life is an ‘elaborate distraction technique’ now? I definitely feel insulted by that.”

“You’re nothing but a distraction to me, Nezumi, and you know that.”

“You make it so easy.” Nezumi ran his hand up and down Shion’s spine, putting more pressure against points of tension he felt. Shion didn’t do things for himself so Nezumi had habits like this, ones that could be a balm to Shion with very little thought or effort so that it wasn’t something Shion could get upset at him for doing.

If only he could find something like that to really be of help to Shion. If only there were something he could find in himself or their connection that gave Shion whatever relief he needed to not suffer.

Maybe there was something he could do. Maybe all it took was a different approach to something that already existed but that they hadn’t put much extra work into yet. He hadn’t considered that. They’d been content to be stable when maybe they should have been active.

He may not have much experience or a wealth of knowledge but there was a reason affinities were so treasured, so protected.

Nezumi turned enough to place a kiss on Shion’s temple before he whispered against his skin, “Who do you know that’s an authority on affinities? Affinities like we have, not just in general.”

Shion tensed slightly but made himself relax quickly enough. “What do you mean by that? Despite the instability at the beginning that could happen to anyone who formed an affinity when their cores were in a weakened state, our connection is the kind common to those with romantic attraction and love for each other.”

“It’s an affinity between two Chimeras who each have unique aspects to their cores.” Shion’s four cores and Nezumi’s Siren core that had been entrusted – transferred from one person to another using an Ouroboros – for a couple hundred years meant they were both on the rare side of things. And even Nezumi knew that being a Chimera changed things, even affinities.

Because an affinity was a connection between two people who felt love for each other through their cores. Whether that love was platonic like that of a parent with their child or close friends, or romantic love like what Nezumi and Shion had formed, their cores reached out for each other and formed a bond that only the complete loss of love could naturally sever.

“Us being Chimeras shouldn’t hold any affect on our affinity,” Shion said, sounding confident in that knowledge.

“But don’t Chimeras have a higher likelihood of abilities being created through that connection, one of them becoming capable of some variation of the other’s disposition?”

“Yes, but there is never a guarantee that abilities will develop in any affinity. There’s only an estimate of just under half of affinities creating abilities through the connection.”

“Yeah, well, it’s called an estimate because they don’t actually know for sure. So, stop avoiding the question and just give me an answer. Do you actually know someone that knows more about affinities than you?”

Shion let out a sigh, rubbing his forehead into Nezumi’s neck briefly before going still again. “No, I don’t know anyone. I didn’t think it would be something that I would have to worry about, not when my mom taught me how to keep them from forming.”

It was no wonder Shion shied away from affinities: it was about the most uncertain aspect of cores there was. No two connections were identical and Shion didn’t like it when he couldn’t get a clear answer or build a specific expectation based on facts. But he did have an affinity with Nezumi and he couldn’t avoid it, especially since Nezumi knew he didn’t really want to. He wanted to be connected with Nezumi. He just had to get past his subconscious hang-ups about it.

Nezumi should have realized sooner that Karan’s teaching Shion how to keep affinities from forming because of her inability to allow them because of her disposition had placed some measure of fear about them in Shion. With how much consideration Shion put into others, it was inevitable.

“Then we’ll look around, see if we can find someone who fits the bill. Meaning they have to know more than what you can find.”

Shion moved away from Nezumi’s neck, standing upright so he could meet Nezumi’s gaze. “Why? Our affinity is fine. There’s no longer a risk of it disconnecting if we are out of proximity to each other even for an extended period of time.”

“Because I want to talk to someone who is actually an expert on the matter. Humor me.” He gave Shion a smirk then before continuing. “Besides, you know I’ll just find someone myself if you decide to stay out of it.”

Shion gave a slight frown at that, obviously realizing that it was the truth almost immediately.

“Fine, I’ll see if I can locate someone. Mom might be able to point us in the right direction. She still has a lot of contacts from her days as a Deva.”

“As do you.”

“Yes, a few. But since I was only an Initiate when I became a Chimera, I didn’t really have a chance to build much of a list of contacts. My mom knew practically everyone working in every surrounding division.”

Nezumi slid forward off the counter, his body sliding along Shion’s pleasantly, which Shion agreed with if the short gasp he let out was anything to go by. Nezumi dropped his hand and took a shameless, teasing grope of Shion’s ass before dropping another kiss on Shion’s cheek before he stepped away, his partner giving him a glare.

“Yeah, well, as much as I like your mom, she’s not the one that tends to impress me.” He brought his hand up to run it through Shion’s hair before he stepped away. “Now get your gear. You’ve managed to work your way out of sparring for a few days and I don’t want you forgetting everything I’ve taught you.”

Now that Nezumi knew to look for it, he noticed Shion tense at his phrasing and he’d done that on purpose. He needed to get more aware of how Shion was handling what he was keeping from Nezumi so he could know what to look for when it came to deciding when to tell his partner what he’d read. He couldn’t jump the gun on this, not with how raw Shion was about it. He couldn’t be the reason Shion got worse.

They had a variety of spots they went to for Nezumi training Shion in hand-to-hand combat, partly to make sure they had privacy and partly to make sure Shion was used to different scenes for his practice. Shion couldn’t get too attached to a particular spot or it would get in the way of his mindset if he actually ever had to use these skills to defend himself.

Six months in and Shion wasn’t any more comfortable with the prospect of learning how to cause physical harm to another person as he had been when they started. Nezumi thought that he might have found something to help but he hadn’t yet and so there was still a pretty significant mental block when it came to him learning and executing techniques. That was frustrating for Nezumi to say the least. He wanted to be able to be away from Shion and not feel like that would get his partner killed.

And today was no different. They sparred in three minute rounds for about an hour, Nezumi giving Shion some feedback and details to work on between each round but they were all things he’d gotten on Shion’s case about before. They were all mistakes he should have been past making by now. And Shion obviously knew Nezumi’s frustration based on how he refused to make eye contact with him after a few rounds in.

Knowing Shion, he was probably just about as frustrated as Nezumi was having to be told the same thing more than once.

Nezumi thought for a moment that the issues Shion was having because of his cores was a factor but that didn’t feel right. Not when there was such a strong factor of muscle memory coming into play. This wasn’t about memorization and that was what seemed to be the biggest problems Shion was having.

Nezumi was allowing his partner a short break, letting Shion sit and recover some of his strength as his stamina was something he was still working to improve. Nezumi sat down next to him and reached over to take Shion’s hand in his, turning it over to press against the calluses from holding weapons that had formed over the past few months, proof that Shion had put in the work. Shion still avoided making eye contact with him.

“You know, something taking you longer to get doesn’t make you suck at it,” Nezumi said, deciding to go for comforting, or as close as he got to it.

“I knew I wasn’t going to be good at fighting. It was one of the reasons I refused to go through the courses when I was a Deva. If anyone else saw how horrible I was at it, it would reflect on my overall standing within the organization. A Deva who can’t fight, who can’t be prepared to do all that might be necessary to take out an Oni can easily become a liability, can be responsible for getting others hurt.”

And Shion already believed he was responsible for the death of a Deva with Yamase.

“To be fair, you aren’t actually bad at fighting,” Nezumi continued. He needed to find something to help bolster Shion’s confidence but it had to be something honest or Shion would see right through him. “Sure, you doubt yourself and never are the first to strike, but that’s not actually the worst thing. You’re good at reading an attack, probably because you’re so used to watching for the small details in how someone is using a core so you pick up on things others wouldn’t with so little experience. And you defend yourself accordingly.”

“Then why do you still hit me?” Shion replied, more obviously frustrated.

Nezumi reached for Shion’s chin, lifting Shion’s head and waited until red eyes finally turned toward him and made eye contact before answering. “Because I’m faster, more experienced, don’t have anything against fighting, and don’t think pulling my punches is going to do you any favors. So don’t mistake me getting hits in on you is any indication of how you’d fare against an Oni. Remember, most of them have even less experience with actually using any sort of technique in a fight than you.”

“Then why bother?”

Nezumi leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Shion’s, taking in a deep breath that had a hint of Shion’s scent to soothe him. “Because I don’t want the reason an Oni does get one up on you to be because you didn’t know. I have to protect you every way I know how.”

Shion let out a quiet hum before whispering, “You’re not going to go back to blaming things on your Qilin core, are you?”

“That thing is such a nuisance,” Nezumi joked in reply.

But then he got an idea. He pulled away from Shion, getting a confused look before he stood up and told Shion to wait a minute and he’d be right back.

He went back to their apartment and headed toward their closet, reaching up to the shelf above where Shion’s clothes were hanging and pulled down the folded cloth that he hadn’t touched for six months now, not having needed it.

It was the cloak that he could imbed his Qilin power into to create a malleable barrier. He hadn’t used it since the day Shion’s Mirror core had awakened to fight the Oni and save Nezumi’s life.

That particular ability was something he’d become capable of after receiving the Siren core, his Qilin core becoming a bit more malleable after being exposed to a disposition that was all about subtle influence. And while he wasn’t limited to this cloak, it was easier to use this because it had years of having his core power being concentrated into it and there was a permanent touch of his power absorbed into the fibers now. It took less power and concentration to get the same results with this than to accomplish the same by channeling it into the clothes he was wearing. Because when he was younger he wore it all the time and was constantly charging it with his barriers.

What if that ingrained power meant something now to his connection to Shion? With affinities, there was a part of his power permanently within Shion. What if that meant he could charge the barrier without being in contact with it like he needed to before? It didn’t hurt to try.

He walked back out onto the roof and saw that Shion hadn’t moved, that he was still seated in the same spot, having pulled his knees close to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, resting his forehead against his arms. Shion was still upset.

Nezumi stepped up to Shion and threw the cloak over Shion’s shoulders, the material settling around his body. Shion looked at the cloak and then up to Nezumi as he kneeled in front of Shion, his hands keeping hold of the cloth as he already started channeling his power into it.

The cloak rippled with his power immediately.

“Nezumi, what are you doing?” Shion asked, looking between the cloak and his partner.

“I want you to keep the charge going after I let go,” Nezumi declared smoothly.

Shion sat a little more upright as he gave Nezumi a confused look. “I can’t do that. It’s powered by your Qilin core.”

“Hey, you got your experiments. I’m allowed mine. Now, Affinities 101 says that we each have a little layer of each other’s core discharge wrapped around our own cores and that’s what forms the foundation of the connection. This cloak is wonderfully sensitive to my power with as much power as I’ve channeled through it over the years. I want to know if the power you have of mine is enough for this thing to react to. Even if you can only extend its affects after I’ve let go, that’s something.”

Shion watched him and Nezumi was waiting for another dismissal when Shion just gave a heavy sigh, like he was just taking the easy way by going along with this. Nezumi frowned and moved one hand up to tug at Shion’s hair enough to get a yelp from his partner. “Hey!” Shion exclaimed. “Do you want me to do this or not?”

“I want you to mean it, to want it to work. Don’t act like I don’t know exactly how much work your cores take to respond to you so why would this be any different? So, mean it.” Nezumi stared Shion down, making sure he knew Nezumi wasn’t going to budge on this. Eventually he gave a nod of acceptance. “Qilin barriers require constant concentration and direction. When I’m channeling it into something malleable, like the cloak, instead of holding a fixed barrier, I have to alter how I direct my thoughts into the barrier. Instead of creating something that nothing can get through, I’m asking it to use this object to keep me from being touched.”

Shion was intelligent enough to notice the difference and he knew Nezumi well enough to know that he picked his words carefully. He knew how and when to mince words and had learned how to adapt that to Shion’s way of thinking. And as he watched Shion’s expression become even more focused and felt his cores respond to what would be a much more direct way of thinking than Shion used, he hoped he’d gotten through.

Nezumi directed a pulse of protective power from his Qilin core to weave into the cloak and the barrier activated. Nezumi picked up on the sensation of eagerness from his core as it wrapped around Shion, his power responding accordingly to surrounding the one he was connected with. His power _wanted_ to be used like this, _wanted_ to keep Shion safe.

It was merely a reflection of his own thoughts.

He leaned closer to Shion, touching his forehead to Shion’s temple so he could whisper into Shion’s ear. “You feel that? You feel my power surrounding and protecting you?”

“Yes,” Shion whispered in response, sounding distracted. Good, that meant he was focusing.

“Reach for that. Want to be protected.”

Shion frowned a little and Nezumi felt a tickle of something against his awareness of his barrier. Something was going right and Nezumi gave a little shift in his own focus, becoming accepting of the one he had an affinity with, figuring that since he had some of Shion’s power within himself, that would make some difference, maybe enough for this to work.

He just wanted _something_ to work for Shion, to give him some reason to think he still could succeed even if he was having a tough time lately. He couldn’t let Shion just give up to the effects he’d started suffering.

About a minute later, Shion said in a frustrated tone, “I can’t. I feel it, your barrier, and can even recognize it as your power, just like what I have of it that forms our affinity, but I can’t do anything _but_ feel it. I can’t get any closer like I would need to in order to take control of the barrier.”

“You’re not controlling the barrier. You’re not a Qilin. You’re just extending the power once I’m not in contact with it. Stop trying to make it more complicated than it is.”

Shion’s frown deepened and Nezumi felt another wave of his attempts at connecting with his shield. It wasn’t any different than before though so Nezumi figured Shion wasn’t any closer.

Nezumi was thinking about what else he could say when there was a sudden surge against the cloak barrier before he was knocked back and away from Shion, barely able to go with the motion to shift into a backwards roll so he came back up in a crouched position facing Shion. The cloak was laying on the floor a foot behind Shion, just a simple cloak now that he wasn’t touching it anymore.

The important part was there was a solid Qilin barrier surrounding Shion, fully formed and dense enough that Nezumi couldn’t actually see Shion. He hadn’t done that. Actually, Nezumi didn’t have the ability to form those kinds of shields unless he was within the boundary of the barrier.

So, Shion hadn’t been able to connect with his ability, maybe give an indication of them having abilities transfer through their affinity. Instead, he’d just activated his Mirror core and had copied Nezumi’s Qilin core and had formed a barrier of his own.

“Overachiever, as per usual,” Nezumi muttered, knowing he sounded fond and not caring since there were no witnesses. “Shion!” he called out. “Whatever you’re thinking, you need to stop. If you put too much power into a barrier like that, it won’t let anything penetrate it. I already can’t see you.”

He gave it a few seconds, listening carefully for any sound from the barrier. When he didn’t get a response from Shion, he frowned and stood to walk up to the line of the barrier.

“Shion!” he called again as loud as he could.

There was another pause of complete silence and then there was a dull thud and a ripple starting from the opposite side of the barrier and crossing briefly over the entirety of the surface told Nezumi that Shion had bumped into the barrier.

Nezumi felt a spike of awareness toward Shion in the back of his mind. He didn’t recognize the sensation.

There was another ripple along the barrier, followed quickly by another and Nezumi became concerned that it wasn’t dispersing. Barriers like this were made to not hold out against contact from within. It took a very specific thought process to use a Qilin barrier to trap someone inside, one usually only used by Oni Qilin.

Then again, Qilin barriers had a strong connection to thought processes, stronger than most other dispositions. Barriers of an untrained Qilin could even become representations of subconscious thoughts. And right now Shion was very carefully keeping himself from being open with Nezumi. And the greatest threat to Shion right now was himself.

Damn, Shion was probably lucky he hadn’t found a way to seal himself despite that not being something Qilins could normally do.

And there was definitely enough power placed into the barrier that sound was at least greatly distorted based on how muffled the sound from inside had been. So Shion wouldn’t be able to understand anything he said. Guess he’d have to pull out a few tricks of his own. After all, he’d been a Qilin for quite a few years now and he had trained with it on his own extensively. He could handle someone who had just stumbled on its abilities, even if that someone was Shion.

He just hoped that Shion’s other cores didn’t decide to forget they weren’t supposed to target Nezumi. One time being on the receiving end of Shion’s Wraith core was enough.

Nezumi placed both his palms flat against the surface of the barrier, his hands right next to each other and started building power that countered cores centered in the right hemisphere of the brain, the ripple of power forming along his skin glowing a deep blue. He started expanding the gathered power and it started pushing against the barrier, working to integrate into it so he could form another barrier that would cancel the existing one out.

Qilins were the most effective disposition to counter Qilins and this was why.

But just as his barrier was starting to take shape, he was suddenly knocked away again, stumbling back a few steps and he shook his hands out a few times, trying to get the tingling numbness to pass and checking to make sure nothing had hurt him with that. It almost felt like the charge of Shion’s Wraith core when it was cutting off access to cores but he could still feel a complete connection to both his cores.

Nezumi frowned: that should have worked. He’d cancelled out Qilin barriers with that a few times since his core awakened. And it shouldn’t have been perceived by the Wraith core as a threat to Shion because it wasn’t something that did anyone any harm.

…Oh.

Well, now he felt like an idiot.

“Shion, you just got saved from one instance of me calling you an airhead,” he muttered to himself as he stepped back toward the barrier with one final shake of his hands, the tingling passing. It had likely just been because the of the concentration of power at the point of contact. “Didn’t I just tell you that you aren’t a Qilin and here I am targeting a centered core when that’s not the problem. I feel like I’m going to owe your Clairvoyant core an apology for dragging it into to this for no reason.”

He was raising his hands to the barrier again, his hands already building a charge but this time the power purple and making it look like his hands were bruised. This time, his charge was absorbed into the existing barrier and Nezumi felt it start to break down and weaken as he expanded his own barrier out around him.

Shion came into view quickly, kneeling on the ground and his hands clenched into fists and held close to his chest defensively as his weight was leaning heavily on the barrier surrounding him. He was breathing hard, his eyes clenched shut and his skin even more pale than it usually was. Nezumi kneeled down and held out his hands so he’d be ready to catch Shion when the barrier finished dispersing because he was pretty sure Shion was far from aware of what was going on around him right now.

Shion wasn’t claustrophobic by any measure but Nezumi figured anyone would be allowed to freak out if they were suddenly completely cut off from everything and they didn’t know what had happened.

The barrier faded and Shion slumped forward into Nezumi’s waiting arms, the glow fading from his own hands as his barrier was dispersed. Nezumi slid in closer to Shion, positioning his partner against his chest and reaching down to take hold of one of Shion’s hands, rubbing his thumb against the back of the hand soothingly as his other hand came up to run through white hair, one finger running along where he knew Shion’s scarring ran along the back of his head down to his neck. Shion’s scars were sensitive and Nezumi’s touch was constantly drawn to them, to the proof that Shion had suffered greatly and come out alive.

It took less than a minute for Shion to start coming out of it and move his hands to grip at Nezumi’s shirt.

“Hey,” Nezumi said in a low tone. “You’re alright.”

“Did I Mirror you?” Shion asked, his voice rough like he’d been shouting. He likely had been and Nezumi just hadn’t been able to hear it.

“Well, I didn’t form that barrier so I’d hope so,” Nezumi replied.

“I’ve never been inside a Qilin barrier like that,” Shion admitted.

“That’s a relief. Those are pretty serious barriers to be used. It’s not too far off what sort of power it is that Qilins use to perform a seal. Complete isolation of whatever’s inside.” Considering the trouble Shion was having lately, it wasn’t really a big surprise that he stumbled on that ability right off the bat, especially with how the cores he’d awakened to become a Chimera tended to be on the sensitive side in their reactions to his use of them. “How’s your head?” Nezumi asked, trying to divert Shion’s focus. The last time Shion had used his Mirror core – the day it had awakened – it had caused him practically debilitating pain.

“I’m fine. I didn’t experience the same pain as I felt before. I felt…heat. It wasn’t painful, just this warmth that flowed through my veins as soon as the barrier formed. It took me some time to realize it was my Mirror core since it felt so different than when I’ve activated it before.”

“Maybe next time don’t activate your Mirror core when all I want is to see if there’s something we can do with our affinity.” Shion shifted his position, laying his ear over Nezumi’s chest over his heart as he let out a sigh. Nezumi let out a sigh at Shion obviously shutting him out. “But, hey, you activated your Mirror core and utilized an ability of the disposition you copied. And on instinct.”

“A lot of what I’ve accomplished with my cores has been on instinct. I still couldn’t take the barrier down.”

“Did you try actually removing it with your core?”

“Of cou…” Shion had sounded irritated when he cut himself off and Nezumi could practically feel his mind working back over the past few minutes, checking what had happened. “No, I didn’t. I panicked too much.”

Shion wasn’t one to panic. The closest he probably had ever come was when Yamase had been killed in front of him and even then he still pulled himself together enough to try and stay alive and defend himself against the Oni that had been sent to kill him. It was one of the more prominent traits that drew Nezumi to him, that he looked like someone who would panic and not be able to handle high stakes situations when in fact he was an observant and adaptable person. Part of that was his training as a Deva, Nezumi knew, but then there was what came down to how fast he processed information.

Unless that was also being affected, his natural mood stabilization. It all happened in the brain after all and that’s what was suffering right now.

Nezumi’s arms were tightening around Shion before he realized it. But he didn’t ease up as that would likely catch Shion’s attention more than anything, feeling Nezumi retreat.

He decided to go for a different tactic. It wasn’t what he’d intended but something had worked out today. “Do you recall enough of what happened?” If Shion could pick out enough details, he could replicate what he did.

Shion hesitated, Nezumi feeling his tension as he nodded against him. He figured Shion wouldn’t be in a hurry to repeat that. But the next time wouldn’t be like what just happened because Nezumi would be ready as well.

“Good, then we can figure out the kinks. Hey, just imagine being a skilled Qilin when you aren’t actually a Qilin.”

Shion huffed out a quiet scoff. “What about that sounded more appealing in your head?”

Nezumi brushed his lips against Shion’s forehead. “Considering that you can get pretty sexy when you’re focused and learning something new, getting caught up in the moment of figuring something out, it’s pretty damn appealing.”

He didn’t need to see the blush to know it was there, especially when Shion turned his face into Nezumi’s chest in a pointless motion to conceal the reaction.

But he wasn’t as freaked out about what he’d just done so that’s all that mattered to Nezumi.


	4. More Possibilities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talking to Safu hadn't been enough...

Shion had been planning on going to Karan’s bakery, helping her out for a few hours like he usually did, but Nezumi declared quickly and resolutely that he wasn’t going anywhere. He may not have felt any pain while using his Mirror core but it was obvious he was feeling the effects on another level. His movements were stiff and Nezumi had noticed how he’d flinched when one of the lights in the apartment had been turned on. So nothing unusual as far as core exhaustion went.

Still, Nezumi had made sure Shion had eaten something and then laid down in bed with him until Shion inevitably fell asleep. He waited for about half an hour after Shion’s breathing relaxed into sleep and then worked his way out of bed and wrote out a note for Shion before heading out, making his way to Karan’s bakery.

He wouldn’t betray Shion’s secrecy but he felt like he needed to talk with someone who not only actually liked him but also had an idea of what it was like to struggle because of their disposition. Safu may be damn smart but she wasn’t a user. She could only speak from the point-of-view of someone who read up on it. Nezumi needed more than that.

He slipped inside the front entrance to the bakery and glanced around, taking a head count of the few customers talking with Karan or looking around. It being after the lunch rush, it was slow and Nezumi got a wave from Karan before she waved him back toward the kitchen.

“I’ll be finished out here soon, Nezumi. Help yourself to some of the muffins from this morning. I was going to send them home with Shion anyway.”

Nezumi nodded and moved out of sight of the front business half of the lower floor, knowing he’d gotten a few long looks. He was used to those. A few regulars knew exactly who he was but there were still plenty of people that only saw him as in the wrong part of town.

Oh well, not like he made a habit of caring about the opinions of people he didn’t care about.

He’d finished one muffin and was absently taking bites of a second when Karan came back. When she was working on her own, she usually closed for a while in the afternoon to get her baking done for the dinner rush. If Shion was there, she stayed open.

She walked straight over to Nezumi and leaned down slightly as he was sitting on one of the stools so she could kiss his cheek as she passed.

“Shion didn’t elaborate on why he wasn’t coming over today. Is he alright?” she asked simply as she washed her hands.

“He’s fine. I made him stay home. Core exhaustion.” Simple, honest, and to the point was always the best way to speak with Karan. She appreciated it, especially when it came to Shion. And Nezumi would tell her more than Shion did about his health. Shion didn’t necessarily lie, just didn’t mention things so she didn’t worry about him. He tried the same thing with Nezumi but he didn’t bite. Not that Karan did either but she didn’t press like he would.

Karan let out a soft sigh as she dried her hands, then tossed the hand towel over her shoulder. “You would tell me if there was another Oni targeting him, right?” she asked. “He got too accustomed to not being able to tell me, a civilian, about what was happening with him when he was a Deva. And now that he isn’t a Deva, he’s old enough that he can choose what he can tell me. But I’ve never wanted him to just talk to me more.”

Nezumi crossed his arms and rested his elbows on the counter in front of him, his body language relaxed.

“He talks a lot. Not as good about actually saying what we want to hear.”

Karan smiled at him, the expression strained. “Yes, I have to admit I was initially opposed to him becoming a Deva because I actually believed he wouldn’t be able to maintain the secrecy required of the position. It took me longer than I would have preferred to realize that he simply found a different way of withholding what he didn’t want to say. He may struggle to see the negative aspects of people but he does know himself.”

“Yeah, he does. Anyway, I need to ask you about something he’ll talk about but I doubt he actually understands.”

Karan’s smile became much more genuine. “That doesn’t quite narrow down the possibilities.”

Nezumi allowed himself to be amused enough to say, “The fact that you know that is one of the reasons I’m coming to you.” He became serious and Karan responded immediately to the shift. “It’s about affinities.” The woman’s expression became even more grim. “When our affinity first formed, he told me about how it is for you to have an affinity and that you had to teach him how to keep one from forming because of your disposition.”

“We were lucky,” she said easily, even as the sadness returned to her demeanor. “He was ten when his Clairvoyant core awakened and he’d already learned plenty about cores and dispositions and I had already discussed with him that I couldn’t have affinities and why. We were also lucky that his core activated in the moment it awakened and he realized what was happening. When it comes to the awakening of a new core, especially a first core, it can take months for something to happen that brings it to the user’s attention. That can be long enough for an affinity to form if the relationship is strong, especially the affinities that form between family members.”

Nezumi was somewhat relieved that he was used to Shion, who regularly talked through things he knew, partially as a way to process it in a different way and partially because he liked sharing what he knew so more people would learn what he had. Shion valued knowledge and Nezumi was learning to at least appreciate it as well. It would never be his forte but it was gradually becoming less exhausting to just let Shion talk and he was getting so much better about giving enough attention throughout. Karan wasn’t as bad but he still had the initial internal grumble about being told things he didn’t ask about.

Not that this wasn’t completely irrelevant to what he’d brought up.

“What about his dad?” Nezumi couldn’t resist asking something that had actually never come up between him and Shion.

Karan hesitated in answering for a few seconds before saying simply, “He wasn’t a user so it was never a concern between us. He passed away about a month before Shion was born.”

No wonder Shion ended up so thoughtful of his mother. He’d literally had no other family in his life.

But then didn’t that also mean that the only family he had needed to teach him that affinities were dangerous and had to be something to be careful of? Sure, affinities were generally talked about in a positive manner but it was his _mother_ telling him and then needing to teach him otherwise. Because it was a fact for her disposition.

“Nezumi?” Karan asked and he realized that he’d allowed himself to drift deeper into thought. He was certain he hadn’t missed anything, though.

“What exactly did you teach him about keeping affinities from forming?” When Karan continued to watch him carefully, Nezumi felt like he need to elaborate, that he’d sounded too accusing about it. After all, just because Karan couldn’t let affinities form for the safety of herself and anyone she cared about hardly meant that’s what she wanted. She’d always proven herself to be a caring person, like her son, and it likely bothered her to have to be worried about something like this. “I’m just trying to understand what he learned, just in case there’s something there that could be getting in the way of our affinity.”

Now Karan seemed thoughtful, like she was seriously considering the prospect instead of dismissing it. Nezumi didn’t know which he would have preferred it to be.

“Cores are about as honest as we get, responding to our truest desires and emotions. It’s why they awaken most commonly to moments of strong emotion, both positive and negative. When our cores reach out to each other in the manner that creates an affinity, it is in response to certain chemicals being released because of our emotions in strong enough quantities. If the feelings aren’t returned strongly enough for the other person’s core to be reaching back, the affinity fails and eventually the core will stop reaching. It doesn’t mean the user’s feelings are any weaker, just that the core becomes accustomed to not being accepted.”

Nezumi was already making connections, making sense of what things had been like in those early days of his relationship with Shion, the days where they were getting closer but still denying anything deeper between them. And he couldn’t help but acknowledge that this was all on him. He’d been the one refusing to let himself become connected with Shion and Shion had responded to that by restraining himself in the way his mom had taught him.

If only he wasn’t so screwed up they could have figured things out a lot faster and maybe he wouldn’t be wondering if Shion was still holding himself back from their connection.

“So that’s what you taught him, how to recognize that window of opportunity that the affinities form in and how to restrain himself until it closes?”

“Yes. His Clairvoyant disposition helped. His eyes were always keen and he learned how to identify discharge intended for an affinity and used that to help him further. He’s always been so insistent about how common his disposition is, how he was never anything special, but to look at the abilities of his Clairvoyant core alone, he has always been on the brink of being something unique, possibly even a new disposition.”

“Some sort of combination of Clairvoyant, Seer, and Weaver?”

“Possibly. Though I have never brought this up to Shion. He would merely dismiss me, saying that everything he has been capable of has been recognized as abilities of Clairvoyants.”

Nezumi thought about some of the things he’d read on Shion’s log. “He’ll do just about anything to be just another person and nothing special.”

“Make no mistake, I would have him be just like anyone else. I have a lot of experience seeing what Oni are willing to do to people who have something to set them apart, especially if it means it’s something they can’t have for themselves.”

And Karan had already had to watch her son recover from an attempt on his life and that had been back when he was only a Clairvoyant.

If they knew what he was now…

Nezumi had to really focus to not show any sign of his discomfort at the thought. He couldn’t give away that there was such a thing to worry about now in front of Karan.

“New dispositions take a long time to discover and authenticate. Many believe that there is no such thing, that the dispositions that exist were set when they first came into existence. But things are always changing and anyone who knows where to look will find evidence of how close we likely are to a fundamental shift in what will be considered the norm for what we are capable of.”

“Shion has said as much,” Nezumi replied absently, still thinking over what might be happening in regards to their affinity.

“And do you agree?”

Nezumi shrugged dismissively. “Not my area of expertise but it makes sense whenever he starts talking about it. So I’m the first and still only person Shion ever had an affinity with. The only other person he was even possibly close enough to would be Safu but she’s not a user.”

“Sometimes I wish he had more friends but he has never seemed unhappy about it.”

“He’s not. If he wanted to be closer to more people, he’d get closer. He believes in working hard at and prioritizing the relationships that matter instead of having more that aren’t as strong. And I’m not even saying that our affinity is weak or something like that. It’s stable. But I’ve had other affinities. Not in a while but still enough that I know my baseline for them and ours just isn’t there and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be.”

“You wonder if he’s still able to affect his discharge even though the connection is there?” Karan paused and looked like she was thinking it over. “I see no reason why he shouldn’t be able to. There is some measure of the process becoming automatic, a habit. He might not realize he’s even doing it.”

Nezumi might have thought so a few days ago but not after reading what he had. It seemed more like Shion was protecting him by not allowing their affinity to become stronger. After all, weaker affinities didn’t hurt so much when they were broken by the death of one side of the connection. And the more Nezumi mulled it over, the more it seemed accurate that Shion was preparing to die from the effects of having four cores.

Could it still be subconscious though, Nezumi then wondered? Shion was far from cruel and he really did value their affinity. However, with Shion’s mind suffering right now, it made it seem more plausible.

“If anyone could find another way to use the skills I taught him concerning affinities, it’s my son,” Karan declared with another sad smile. Nezumi understood her expression in this: Shion had proven by becoming the youngest Deva ever at thirteen that he was willing to pursue anything he put his mind to, regardless of the danger it put him in. That had to be as difficult to deal with for Karan as it was for Nezumi. At the very least. “For what it’s worth, I don’t believe if he did anything like that, altering his discharge to keep your affinity from becoming stronger, that he is doing it to hurt you or your relationship. He loves you so much and he understands that doing something like that would be harmful to the two of you, would cause a rift between you that could genuinely affect your relationship and therefore your affinity.”

Nezumi liked that Karan’s thoughts were similar to his own. And regardless of the secrets Shion was keeping from Nezumi right now, they weren’t something that Nezumi was angry at Shion for. It would be different if Shion was purposefully keeping their connection unbalanced.

So this talk with Karan had resulted in Nezumi learning for sure that Shion’s control over his core’s discharge was more advanced than probably anyone had ever given him credit for and it might be time Nezumi reminded him of that. After all, Shion was still intimidated by his cores and that never boded well for control, especially since three of them were results of trauma and the one that wasn’t had been severely damaged.

It hadn’t even been a year since they’d become reintroduced into each other’s lives and maybe it was past time Nezumi stopped letting his high expectations of Shion – regardless of how founded they were on proof of his partner’s capabilities – be all there was. Maybe the reason Shion didn’t want to talk to him about his struggles was because he felt it would let Nezumi down and that would risk him sticking around.

Because Shion could be an airhead about things like that.

Shion might at least seem like he was better with people than Nezumi was but they were actually about equally inept; Shion just wasn’t as obvious about it because he tried where Nezumi didn’t care enough.

“Has this been of any help, Nezumi?” Karan asked, Nezumi knowing he’d been silent for a while.

“Yeah, it’s been helpful. I might have an idea of what’s going on. Thanks, Karan,” he said, able to be genuine like this towards Karan, soft spot that he’d developed for her and all.

Like mother, like son in that regard.

“You’re always welcome, Nezumi. After all, I may have had my doubts about you at the very beginning when Shion first returned home from the hospital, but you’ve proven yourself over and over that there’s a reason you are the one he became close enough to for an affinity to take hold despite his work.”

“Think you could put in a good word about me to Safu, then? The amount that Shion wants us to get along is pretty high.”

Karan laughed at the request, as Nezumi had expected. “You’re on your own with her. After all, she’s loved him longer than you’ve known him.”

“Yeah and she throws that at me like it makes a difference,” Nezumi muttered, certain that Karan had heard him but thankfully let it slide.

“Were you going to stay and help me out or did you want to head back to Shion?”

Nezumi thought it over for a few seconds, considering what days Karan was usually busier and weighing that against how much he wanted to get back to Shion, hopefully before he woke up. That won out and Nezumi knew that Karan wouldn’t hold it against him, not with how much she liked Nezumi looking out for Shion where it mattered. “I’m heading back. Maybe I’ll even beat him waking up.”

Karan gave him a smile but it quickly faded and now she looked concerned. “He’s still not sleeping.” It wasn’t a question.

“Not well.”

“He’s always been prone to poor sleep. He remembers so much of everything he sees and does and the subconscious isn’t known for being kind or considerate. I had hoped that he’d be able to work through what happened with the Oni quicker.”

Of course Karan knew exactly what was most likely the cause to Shion’s nightmares: the Oni he had killed. She may not have been given all the details but she was smart and had been a Deva so she knew what the job entailed. One day about a month after the fight on a rough day, Shion had let that particular detail slip.

“You got any tricks you can pass along?” Nezumi found himself asking.

“Let him sleep as long as he’ll stay asleep. We dream so our minds can work things out. If we don’t let it happen, we only cause ourselves more trouble. So, let his mind work out what it needs to.”

Nezumi let out a dramatic sigh as he stood. “Great, I’ll have to sleep with a barrier up for when his Wraith or Dispel core decide to take the stress of it out on me.”

Karan laughed as he’d hoped and she walked around the counter and stood up on the balls of her feet to place a brief kiss to Nezumi’s cheek as she usually did at some point whenever he was over. “Don’t hesitate to come by anytime, Nezumi. You know I want you two to be happy.”

“Thanks. I know.”

As Nezumi left the bakery, he thought that Karan was one of the kindest people he’d ever met, pretty much only beat out in that regard by her son. That made sense, he supposed. Either way, he considered himself lucky that he had the both of them in his life and on his side. He’d probably never admit that aloud but he didn’t need to.

His attention shifted as he moved down the street, hands shoved deep in his pockets and eyes slightly lowered, looking as unapproachable as he possibly could, his focus split adequately between what he’d talked to Karan about and his surroundings.

He’d learned long ago that there was never a good enough part of the city to drop his guard, something Shion seemed incapable of adapting to so Nezumi ended up watching out for both of them.

That level of attention was why he noticed about halfway home that he was being followed. He took a few seconds to shift all his focus to the feeling and realized quickly enough that there wasn’t a risk, that he knew who it was.

It had been a while since she tried to actually be sneaky toward him. Usually she just sent her mutts.

This was a busy few days, he noted as he turned a corner to head toward some more secluded streets. There was no way he was going to give her a reason to trail him all the way home, not with Shion recovering as he was. He’d disregard any exhaustion and would insist on playing host even if his guest had no manners to speak of.

She also didn’t make a habit of approaching him in a part of town she wasn’t actually comfortable in; she stood out too much so she always sent her dogs. Well, that and she was as susceptible to Karan’s kindness and didn’t want to risk accepting anything that would either make her feel like she owed Karan or was taking advantage of her.

Nezumi held back a grin at the thought that maybe Karan had her own talent that was borderline disposition power considering how many people just ended up liking her.

He finally found himself an alley that he deemed private and secluded enough to turn down and settle into a relaxed position against the wall while he waited for his tail to approach him.

Thankfully, Inukashi wasn’t one to dawdle so she came into view within ten seconds and walked up to about three meters away, out of his range to hit or move fast enough to get a hand on her before she got out of the way.

She’d learned his range the hard way in the early days of their interactions when she’d push his patience too far and he had less to spare anyway.

“You’re slipping. Took you a minute too long to realize I was following you,” Inukashi said as a greeting.

“What do you want? I actually do have shit going on right now,” Nezumi replied. If she was going to just tear into him, he had better things to do.

“Right, you’ve got that idiot boyfriend of yours to look after now. I guess that means you’ve got no time for your old agreements.”

Nezumi smirked. “Jealousy, huh? Can’t say I’m surprised the way you followed me around like the dog you were raised by.”

Inukashi’s cheeks reddened with a mix of embarrassment and anger. “Hardly, you asshole! I’d have to be able to tolerate any part of you for that. I just thought we still had a standing deal for certain information.”

Nezumi’s hand clenched into a fist in his pocket. No way. Not now.

He schooled his features to nonchalance. “We do. Shion doesn’t change anything there.”

“Does he know?” Inukashi asked, irritating Nezumi by prying.

“More than you.” Which while it worked on a few levels to irritate Inukashi, it was the truth: Shion knew exactly why he was looking for the Oni that Inukashi was supposed to relay him any information about while she didn’t. She just knew he’d been obsessively looking for them for years.

“Word is they’re about to make their rounds back to town.”

“How reliable is that ‘word’?”

“Came to me through Rikiga. He may be a disgusting old guy but his information pans out a majority of the time.”

Rikiga ran a couple brothels in the part of the city Nezumi used to live in, his clients including the rich and some high-ranked politicians and city officials. The information his girls and boys got from them made for a good supplemental income and Rikiga was good about knowing how to use it to keep himself from being found out.

It was actually Rikiga who had given him the tip the last time the Oni had been around when he was thirteen and had nearly gotten the jump on him when he’d been caught by the Devas on suspicion of being an Oni himself.

The day he’d met Shion.

“Funny, last time I took his intel, he’d given it to the Devas as well and they held me thinking I was an Oni.” He didn’t know that for sure, had just suspected it since the moment he’d been detained.

“Probably saved your ass doing that.”

Inukashi was probably right about that. Nezumi was accomplished with his cores but much of that skill had come after he’d been caught and had to be helped by some strange kid. Because while he’d appreciated – and been baffled by – what Shion had done, it had been overshadowed by how he’d believed at the time that no one helped others for nothing and had become intent on never needing someone else to be the reason he got out of a mess like that again.

“More like he was making sure his own was covered,” he instead retorted with a smirk as Inukashi let out a frustrated growl, short-tempered with him as always and so easy to bait.

“Yeah, well, if you weren’t someone so easy to be suspicious of, they probably wouldn’t have been so convinced they had an Oni with you. Now do you want what I’ve got or not? I mean, you’re all nestled into your domestic little cave with Shion so why would you want to ruin that?”

“Well, for one, the Oni might not give me a choice in the matter. He knows about me as well, is aware of why I was after him and he might be coming back after so many years to try and finish me off.”

“That’s what you get for not taking care of him when you had the chance.”

“How about you stop giving me shit and actually give me the information? If it was just that he was coming back to town, you’d have been gone by now.”

Inukashi seemed strangely surprised, “You’re really gonna keep after him? What about Shion?”

“What about him? I told you he knows about the Oni. And the guy was a Deva; he’s probably dealt with more Oni that both of us combined.”

That was stretching the truth. Shion hadn’t been supposed to face off against Oni when he was a Deva. He hadn’t been a high enough rank and apparently hadn’t done the necessary training. Sure, he’d probably seen more Oni than anyone else – his ability to identify Oni on sight with his Clairvoyant core meant he could see them walking down the street as long as he had his core activated – but actually facing off against them wasn’t where he had the most experience. But Nezumi wasn’t in the habit of revealing details, especially if they gave away possible vulnerabilities of Shion’s.

Inukashi just crossed her arms and gave him a stern look, one that usually preceded her making an observation based on her strong animal instincts and usually something he didn’t want to hear.

“Because it looks like the Oni is interested in both of you. You guys didn’t exactly keep a low profile when you went to check out that place I told Shion about. It was a hotbed for Oni that they can’t use anymore because the U.E.A. and Devas have their eyes on it now.”

None of that was really surprising considering the Oni Shion and Nezumi had faced six months ago had said something that indicated that they had some idea of who Nezumi was. And while they hadn’t known Shion at the time, it was reasonable to think that him just being around Nezumi was enough to gain some attention. If nothing else, he could be considered a weakness of Nezumi’s for them to exploit.

None of that helped Nezumi completely dismiss the prospect that the Oni that had ordered for Shion to be killed had found out the teen was still alive and was looking to change that.

“He’s specifically looking for Shion Himura?” It was an important distinction: was he looking for Shion or the user who was involved in the fight?

“No, he doesn’t seem to have Shion’s name or yours. But he’s got Shion’s description.”

Considering the uniqueness of Shion’s features, that could be more than enough. Not many seventeen-year-olds had white hair, red eyes, and a very prolific scar circling the entirety of their body. And while Shion dressed to cover as much of his scar as possible, he didn’t actually conceal his hair or eyes. Nezumi didn’t usually mind – those features were proof that Shion could survive, that he was strong, and they were extremely attractive – but he might have to start encouraging Shion otherwise.

“Shion should keep his distance from the bakery for now,” Inukashi continued. “Him not working for the Devas anymore that put him in front of Oni all the time is probably why they haven’t gotten a fix on him. The only place he regularly goes is to the bakery and he should probably stop until things settle down. He’s been keeping so much to himself the past six months that it’s kept him more concealed than he could have if he was trying.”

“And you know that how?”

“One of the pack likes him. She follows him all over the place when he’s out. I told her to keep her distance though until I had the chance to talk to him about her.”

Inukashi’s disposition was a Familiar, meaning she could understand animals and they could understand her, more so intuiting than actually talking to them according to Shion. With her being abandoned as a baby and taken in by dogs, Shion also said it was likely a case of a core awakening and determining what she had needed to survive. And Inukashi had grown up to use that ability to gather her information, continuing to survive any way she found that worked.

But because of that, she was very much a part of her “pack” of dogs, all of them listening her without fail. So to know that Shion had won over one of those dogs was actually hilarious.

Then again, it meant that he hadn’t noticed a dog following Shion for six months. His only consolation was, one, that he was used to seeing the dogs all over, and, two, that it wasn’t like the dog had meant any harm to either Shion or him so there would have been nothing about it to catch his attention. He may not be a Paladin with their standard ability to intuit danger, but he was a Qilin and well-trained in picking out threats with close to the same reliability as those ultimate fighters. He knew how to read people and he trusted his instincts to steer him right.

“That’s all I have right now. I’ll be looking out for anything more and will tell Rikiga to do the same,” Inukashi continued.

Nezumi gave a smirk, settling into the familiar teasing to keep from showing more than he wanted with anyone but Shion. “Going out of your way for me? I’m touched.”

“We all hate Oni and this one has been a thorn in our side for way too many years. I want to get him and any of his little buddies out of our hair for good instead of just waiting around for his next round."

Nezumi frowned at that: Inukashi wasn’t the kind of person to make that sort of declaration. She was a survivor first and foremost and that meant she didn’t do shit for other people if there wasn’t anything to obviously benefit her. Nezumi was the same way regardless of how he would give anything to keep Shion safe. But the way he saw it, losing Shion was equivalent to death so ensuring his partner’s safety was ensuring his own.

There were times like this, where even to himself he had to maintain some semblance of defense, that Nezumi understood why Shion sometimes just looked tired when talking with him.

“What are you going to do now?” Inukashi asked after only a brief show of hesitation. “You gonna try to track the Oni down on your own?”

Nezumi gave a noncommittal shrug as he replied, “I’ll need to see what Shion wants to do. He might be able to offer some help you or Rikiga can’t give. This would be a good time to remember that when he worked with the Devas, his job was locating Oni and tracking them for the guys he worked with to apprehend.”

Inukashi gave him a long look before shrugging and turning away to leave. “I’ll give you daily updates.”

“Shion’ll appreciate that way more than me,” Nezumi called after her as she turned the corner back onto the sidewalk.

His life was just never going to take it easy, was it? He already had enough shit to deal with and now he had to throw Oni on top of it all?

But the strange part was that he actually wasn’t sure what Shion would decide. If he’d heard this a few days ago, before he’d learned what was happening to Shion, he wouldn’t have doubted that Shion would say they needed to track the Oni down. But he honestly had no idea if Shion would say they should play it safe, doing whatever he could to try and prevent getting involved in a confrontation when it was possible he would accelerate the damage being done to his brain.

They needed to seriously figure their shit out, Nezumi decided with a heavy sigh and a roll of his eyes.


	5. Admission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nezumi tries again...

Nezumi was relieved that Shion was still asleep when he got home. Besides his partner just needing more sleep, Nezumi felt like he needed to gather his thoughts before he talked to Shion about what he’d just learned.

It was entirely possible that this bit of news would end up being why Shion told him about the side effects he’d been dealing with. Because that was the only reason Shion would have to choose not to go after the Oni, Nezumi was sure.

As it was, Nezumi found himself standing in the doorway to their bedroom, watching his partner as his mind wandered. The fact that just seeing Shion safe like that eased the tension from his shoulders and mind was momentarily frustrated before Nezumi managed to catch himself in his old habit of thinking from when he hated the thought of getting so close to anyone. If he let himself head back in that direction, it would affect their affinity and he didn’t want that.

Shion was laying on his side facing toward Nezumi, the blanket covering him up to the waist as he had a long-sleeve shirt on and that should be enough for him to stay comfortable; Shion’s body didn’t regulate its temperature as efficiently as it had before the Plague attacked him and he usually got cold while he slept.

Add that to the list of things that made it tough for Shion after being targeted by the Oni because they found out he could identify them all on sight.

And now there was another Oni that had been among those responsible for the death of everyone Nezumi had called family as well as for the destruction of his home targeting Shion. It was extremely unlikely that they knew about his four cores, not with how meticulous the two had been with not telling anyone. I was likely that they found out Shion had been responsible for taking out some strong Oni – with Nezumi – and that made him interesting enough to check into. And, of course, the Oni was informed of Nezumi’s Siren core, knew how strong he was. He just didn’t know for sure if the Oni knew that he was a Chimera. That alone could be the difference between him winning against this Oni or not.

But what could they actually do about the Oni? Nezumi hadn’t cared the last time he got close but he couldn’t just dismiss the rules about what earned someone the designation of “Oni” now that his actions would also affect Shion. Everything that had happened six months ago had been classified as self-defense, especially since the Plague that had killed another Deva and nearly killed Shion had been involved. But if anything had gone any differently, they could have both come out of that building in Deva custody. If they weren’t careful, that’s what could happen to them now. They actually couldn’t just outright look for the Oni and when questioned declare they knew the guy was an Oni and have that make it alright. They would likely be declared as instigators and it wouldn’t be self-defense. So unless Shion had an idea of getting around all that, the safest option would be to wait for the Oni to come for them. Then the concern became if the Oni didn’t actually manage to track them down.

This whole making sure he stayed on the right side of the law was tedious, Nezumi decided as he sighed and pushed himself off the doorframe to walk toward the bed. He sat down smoothly, doing his best to not make the mattress move under his weight so he didn’t wake Shion up. He really wanted Shion waking up to be by his own accord. He laid on his side facing toward Shion and reached out to start combing his fingers through white hair, Shion letting out a soft sigh before curling forward toward Nezumi and relaxing back into his sleep.

Nezumi couldn’t lose Shion.

There was a time soon after they were reunited when he was still fighting the notion that he was beginning to care about Shion that he would have vehemently declared the airheaded teen being around didn’t make any difference, that he could walk away anytime and not be any different for it. He wouldn’t even have been lying too much in saying so. He’d spent too many years completely closed off to everyone and everything except the Oni responsible for killing his people that it had taken time for anything to get through, for Shion to get through.

But since Shion _did_ get through to him, since he did come to mean everything to Nezumi, that meant that it was impossible for Nezumi to half-ass anything concerning him.

Because Nezumi didn’t hold back once he cared. It was one of the main reasons he was careful about what his heart went toward. And while he didn’t regret loving Shion in the least, he recognized that if he wasn’t careful with how his love was expressed to Shion, he may cause more problems with their situation.

Shion didn’t expect or want Nezumi to change. He loved him for who he was and had expressed that plenty of times that Nezumi really did believe him. And Nezumi wasn’t considering changing either. If you changed to fit what someone else wanted from you, that wasn’t real love.

But “change” and “growth” were very similar to look at when you didn’t know the thoughts behind it all.

He wouldn’t change for Shion. However, he would grow in his love for him. And Shion knew him so well that he shouldn’t mistake what he saw as the result.

Nezumi came back to the thought that he couldn’t lose Shion. Nothing that made him feel alive would survive, not now that he’d felt the love he did for Shion.

He had to help Shion figure out how to stop the mental degradation and he had to take care of the Oni.

Unable to stop himself at the rise of emotions despite all the care he’d taken to not wake Shion up, he leaned forward and pressed his lips insistently against Shion’s. Shion let out a sleepy moan against his lips and stirred, his hand coming up to rest over Nezumi’s loosely.

“Nezumi?” Shion mumbled against his lips, confused.

Nezumi pulled away just enough to not be pressed against Shion to reply, “It better be.” Even as he’d kept an amused tone, he couldn’t help the shot of irritation at the mere prospect of someone else coming in and kissing and holding Shion while he was asleep.

He kept his head pretty good when it came to not having issues with jealousy, knowing so deeply that Shion wasn’t slightly interested in others or aware enough to pick up on when someone was interested in him, but he’d gotten himself worked up and his protective nature was in full force right now. Apparently, that meant pointless jealousy.

He kissed Shion again, more of a long brush of the lips and Shion’s lips puckered back slowly, the other teen waking up gradually.

“Come on, Shion. Let me see red,” he urged, happily using the phrase for Shion’s eyes he’d first said a few days after their affinity had formed that he liked. And it usually made Shion blush at least a little when it was said while he was wide awake so that was a good bonus.

As it was, Shion gave a brief frown and leaned closer to Nezumi, pressing his face into his chest. He did that when he was intent on trying to stay asleep.

Nezumi eased off for a few seconds, focusing his attention into the fingers of his right hand. He then moved his hand to Shion’s temple and pressed his index and middle fingers against the skin just above the line of scarring extending over Shion’s cheek. He’d done this often so knew exactly what he was looking for and almost immediately caught the strong buzz of his Dispel core. He trailed his hand down toward Shion’s chest but stopped when he caught the feeling of the Mirror core alongside Shion’s pulse. That wasn’t usually where it was.

Either way, it was pulsing strongly, as it usually did. So, it had either not used much power when it had kicked in earlier or it was quick to recharge. Nezumi wondered if that was normal for an uncentered core.

He moved on, reaching down to the bottom of Shion’s shirt and then slid his hand up the warm stomach and chest, Shion squirming a little at the light contact. He wasn’t ticklish but he was still getting used to being touched like this by Nezumi. Nezumi’s hand came to rest over Shion’s heart, laying his entire palm on Shion’s skin, feeling the beating of Shion’s heart for a few seconds before even trying to pick out the feel of his cardiac centered core. And it was there, of course, strong as ever and not showing any indication of being drained from use.

Shion’s cores recovered power quickly.

They knew that but with what Nezumi now knew about the deterioration within Shion, he wondered if that was part of the problem. What if the cores’ quick recovery meant that his body was being overworked?

The prospect didn’t seem…unreasonable. And he didn’t feel like he was to the point yet that he would be grasping at straws to try and figure things out. Maybe soon but not yet.

“Why do you do that?” Shion asked, his voice thick and still half-asleep.

“Because I like to,” Nezumi replied easily. “Why else would I do something?”

“Not that,” Shion said quickly, then sighed and continued. “I mean touching over my cores.”

Nezumi couldn’t stop the uptick of the corner of his lips. He wasn’t surprised that Shion had figured out that’s what he was doing. After all, Shion may suck at reading people but it was uncanny how good he was about figuring things out when it came to cores. It was like his brain made up for the deficit.

“Checking that you’re charged back up,” he replied easily enough since there wasn’t any reason to not answer honestly or mess with Shion when he wasn’t more awake. He tapped his fingers against Shion’s chest lightly. “Figured out I can get a feel for them when I put my mind to it.”

“When?” Shion sounded more aware now.

“Noticed it about two months in. Lucked out one day after our time training. What’s it matter?”

“It’s not that it really matters, I guess, but that’s akin to an affinity ability and I thought we didn’t have any form.”

Nezumi lifted an eyebrow as he leaned back to try and get a better view of Shion’s face but he was staying curled into him. “Something like that is an affinity ability?” he asked, surprised. Whenever Shion had brought up those abilities, Nezumi had always imagined something more…flashy.

Shion let out a quiet laugh. “Neither of your dispositions are recognized as being able to feel out cores like that while more than one of mine do. That apparently translated to you, even if it is just an awareness of my cores. Is it just my cores?”

Nezumi shrugged. “How should I know? I don’t go around feeling people up at random to check.”

“Don’t be crass.” Nezumi heard the embarrassment in Shion’s voice and smirked.

He then leaned down so he could be closer to Shion’s ear when he whispered, “But you make it such a pleasure to be crass. Why would I give that up?” He added a meaningful squeeze at Shion’s chest for good measure.

“Nezumi…” Shion complained, grabbing onto Nezumi’s forearm and pulling at it like he was trying to cut the contact even as he didn’t put much effort into the motion. Nezumi would have been surprised if he had put effort into it, though. Sure, he would have complied if Shion had meant it, but Shion didn’t usually want to make Nezumi stop touching him. He liked the physical contact between them and very rarely outright denied it.

As it was, he pressed a kiss to Shion’s temple and then relaxed against the pillow as he left his hand in place where he could feel Shion’s heartbeat, having stopped paying attention to his core pretty much as soon as Shion had started talking to him.

Considering that he’d be broaching a potentially sensitive subject, he was going to take advantage of that as long as he could.

“I need to talk to you about something, Shion,” he opened, blunt as always. He wouldn’t beat around the bush with this and he wouldn’t let Shion be evasive about it either.

“What is it?” Shion replied easily enough.

“I talked to Karan about what she taught you concerning affinities,” he opened, working out the best way to get Shion to be thinking about it before he even broached his idea.

“Okay, though I’m not sure why. With our affinity having formed and stabilized, the skills she taught me are moot regarding us.”

“You’re positive about that?” Nezumi countered. Shion had shut him down too quickly.

“Yes. She taught me how to avoid letting an affinity form by controlling my thought process in a manner that affected core discharge. It was essentially giving constant commands to the core.”

“Conscious, purposeful commands? Or was there something of a habit involved?”

“Of course it couldn’t be completely conscious. It just became something that happened in the back of my mind. The only time it was interrupted was when I was actually using any ability. Mom stated a few times that the way my mind worked, how I tend to compartmentalize things worked greatly in my favor and allowed it to be easier for me. She mentioned that many Warps end up unable to do anything with their cores because they can’t handle the thought process that is required to control the abilities of the disposition. But I suppose…”

“Shion, did you actually break the habit?” Nezumi interrupted before Shion could get too into what he was saying. Nezumi didn’t want them getting distracted. He _had_ to know if this was an answer.

Shion paused before he actually lifted his head and looked up at Nezumi. “What?”

“When did you sit yourself down and get yourself to stop giving that unconscious string of commands to your cores?”

“I…” Shion cut himself off almost immediately and his gaze became distant, something Nezumi had learned to recognize as him really focusing on a single thing to work out every detail he knew. It didn’t actually get this intense very often, Shion’s habit of constantly working through questions meaning he often had plenty worked out before anyone else thought to ask.

Apparently, Nezumi had actually succeeded in finding something Shion hadn’t thought of before.

And Nezumi hoped that this wasn’t a sign of the mental degradation Shion was suffering inhibiting him further. He didn’t quite want to broach that issue just yet, hoping on some level that solving one problem would solve another.

When Shion suddenly sat up, Nezumi following behind at a slower pace, he wondered if he’d actually managed to strike gold with this. He wanted to ask but he knew that he needed to wait for Shion to give him his attention again or he’d interrupt the process and would only potentially slow things down later in the conversation.

Eventually, he turned toward Nezumi, his frustration obvious, especially when he said, “How did I miss that?”

Nezumi didn’t want them to lose ground so he reached out to run his fingers through Shion’s hair, easing out a few knots that had formed as he slept. “You’ve had some other priorities, honey,” he said.

He got the frown he expected from Shion: his partner really didn’t like being called anything but his name by Nezumi, though that was likely because Nezumi only used pet names to tease him since he didn’t really care for them either, and so Nezumi tended to only pull them out when he wanted to derail Shion from a certain train of thought. It never failed.

“Please don’t call me that, Nezumi.”

“Then don’t start beating yourself up about something that you didn’t know would become an issue. How were you supposed to know that you wouldn’t automatically stop thinking how you were trained to think since you were a kid. It’s not like Karan actually knows the other side of things, like she’s had to figure out actually having an affinity form. You’re in unfamiliar territory for her experience here. Besides, it’s not like you can completely abandon that considering you still can’t let an affinity form between you and her. Sure, it isn’t as much of a concern since you aren’t living with her anymore but the risk is always there for you to have to think about.”

Shion had turned to face across the room, no longer looking at Nezumi and his shoulders had slumped, the teen looking more defeated than Nezumi had ever seen him. “But you aren’t her and we have an affinity. I should have realized that was a factor to the difficulty we’ve been having with stabilizing.”

“Oh, right, because you have always known exactly what to do immediately when something new with your cores has popped up. I just imagined you needing months to even start to get the hang of your Dispel core and longer to get a handle on your Wraith core.” Just how harsh would Nezumi have to get for Shion to ease up on himself? “So you made a mistake that ended up slowing things down for our affinity. So we needed more time for our affinity to really take off because of that. Big deal. Our affinity still formed and it did reach the point of stability. You know what you need to work on so you can work on it and that’ll mean it’ll be better moving forward.”

“I’m never going to get this all figured out,” Shion said, sounding like he was just talking to himself instead of listening to Nezumi.

“Since when does one person have it all figured out when it comes to cores, even if they are you?”

“Then what do I have to offer?” Shion turned to face Nezumi again, his expression still pained and revealing that he really was convincing himself that he had nothing of value.

Nezumi had to really focus on not snapping back at Shion, beyond frustrated. It was only what had happened the morning before where Shion had admitted that his thoughts were getting stuck in a way that was making him unable to move past certain notions. It didn’t matter that he knew he was wrong.

“Why do you have to ‘offer’ anything? Can’t you just be you and think that’s enough? It’s enough for me, more than enough.”

It was difficult to tell if he’d said the right thing to help Shion because he turned away and moved to get out of the bed. Nezumi wasn’t used to being dismissed like that, especially after saying something so honest. He sat up completely and crossed his legs in front of him, watching Shion as he paused once he’d swung his legs over the side of the bed.

“I want it to be enough. It’s just…I can’t stay like this or I’ll…”

Nezumi wondered if Shion would reveal his secret and he remained still and silent. Though he did admit to himself that it was a good point: Shion remaining exactly as he was meant the deterioration continued. They needed to at least figure that out.

Shion let out a weary sigh as he ran his hand through his hair. “I’m tired of things not working like they’re supposed to. I miss only having the Clairvoyant disposition and being able to rely on it unquestioningly.”

It wasn’t the admission Nezumi was hoping for but it was something that Shion had been keeping to himself so it was a step in the right direction at least.

Nezumi slid toward Shion, reaching around him to run his fingers through his hair as he pressed his chest against Shion’s back, Shion allowing himself to follow the pressure and leaned his head back against Nezumi’s shoulder. So Nezumi kept on twisting white strands around his fingers.

“Sure, things were probably easier back then but you don’t really do well with easy for very long,” Nezumi figured that was stating the obvious more than he should have to. As it was, Shion didn’t give much of a response so Nezumi was left to wait him out.

“I suppose.”

It was like Shion only said it to pacify Nezumi and that wasn’t going to happen. Nezumi tugged at Shion’s hair, frustrated, and Shion reached up and grabbed his hand to pull it away from his hair so he couldn’t do it again. “I don’t know what’s going on with you but it’s past time we figure it out. We can’t both be pessimists in this relationship.”

As much as it could be taken as a dig by anyone else listening, Nezumi was being honest. He admired Shion for the ways he wasn’t like Nezumi and that definitely included how Shion could see the good even where he probably shouldn’t be looking. It took a special kind of person to be a Deva for any length of time and come out of it still thinking everyone deserved a chance. Sure, Shion hadn’t seen the worst the world could offer face-to-face, but he’d seen enough to know what people were capable of.

Hell, Nezumi still had no idea how Shion saw anything he considered worthwhile in him. Nezumi wasn’t the kind of person who things worked out for and having Shion love him enough that an affinity formed was definitely things working out regardless of how much he’d let himself fight it.

“I know you can’t just magically know how to figure out whatever’s wrong and fix it, no matter how much you want to. The thing is, you’re not allowed to do shit on your own anymore.”

Shion started to turn toward Nezumi but stopped and remained facing away. It was a retreat from him if Nezumi had ever seen one. “It’s not like I spent much time on my own before. I was a Deva and as an Initiate rank, I wasn’t allowed to be on my own.”

“And yet when I ran into you again, you were on your own. And when you were targeted by Oni, you didn’t have anyone close enough that you could just tell that you were in danger. You manipulated your environment but still kept it completely to yourself. How is that not being on your own?” Shion didn’t seem to be able to come up with a retort quickly enough and Nezumi happily continued. He felt like he needed to get through to Shion now if he wanted there to be any chance of his partner opening up to him. He would admit that he hadn’t expected there to be this sort of problem so he was struggling in handling it. “Having an affinity doesn’t just mean you love someone, Shion. It means you are connected to someone in a way that means it’s impossible to be completely on your own as long as the affinity exists. Now that our affinity is stable, we could be across the world from each other but it’s impossible for us to not have something of the other with us. I’m always with you now. If I didn’t want that, we wouldn’t have an affinity. Remember, this isn’t my first one. I’ve had them before. And, yeah, this is my first one that is with someone who isn’t family, but that just means I want it all the more.”

“You’re speaking as if I’ve indicated I don’t want the affinity between us, like I don’t love you,” Shion responded, sounding tired. Nezumi wondered if he’d said something that Shion had been telling himself a lot lately.

Nezumi leaned forward enough to kiss Shion behind his ear before replying. “Lucky for you, I’m perfectly aware that you love me. You’ve never been so good about hiding that.” Sure, it had taken Nezumi some time to allow himself to see and accept Shion’s love, but that wasn’t on Shion. And once he was okay with Shion’s feelings toward him and his own feelings toward Shion, he’d happily looked back over all their time with each other and had picked out everything Shion did that proved his feelings. It really had been obvious all along. “The issue has never been with your feelings for me. That’s not where you have something to work through.”

“Then what are you saying?” Shion really sounded tired now. It wasn’t like him to sound like that, almost like he was defeated and that just wasn’t Shion. Shion didn’t give up easily. He kept on going much longer than he should. And considering how logically Shion approached everything, it had taken some getting used to for Nezumi to come to terms with how illogical Shion was when it came to deciding when to give something up.

“I’m saying you got used to needing to figure things out on your own simply because no one else could keep up with how you think and work. You had plenty of people around you but you were always on your own. You can’t keep going like that now, though. I won’t let you. So, the sooner you get used to figuring out how to make decisions with me, the better. I don’t control you. Never have. But with our affinity, we’re officially partners. Everything that happens to you affects me.” And Nezumi’s problems and enemies were Shion’s but that didn’t need to be the focus right now. He knew that he would lose any progress he might be making with Shion if he pointed that out.

“Not everything,” Shion muttered so low that Nezumi had almost not understood it even with how close he was.

“Oh? What do I get left out of?” Nezumi pressed. He’d take Shion opening himself up.

Shion tensed up and it was obvious he hadn’t meant to say that. But then he remained silent and stiff and Nezumi figured he wasn’t getting that lucky with all this.

Nezumi let out a sigh as he dropped his forehead onto Shion’s shoulder, unable to keep his frustration from the sound. He rested his hands on Shion’s hips, just touching him because he could as long as Shion didn’t tell him not to. And he didn’t think Shion would because he felt the slightest release of some of the tension in Shion’s shoulders.

“What’s it going to take, Shion?” he asked after it became glaringly obvious that he’d hit a dead end.

“For what?” Shion asked, cautious.

“For you to trust me like I trust you. I changed pretty much everything about my life to let us be together. Don’t you dare take that the wrong way, either. I didn’t have much going for me. But now, I have something, someone that I will do anything to protect. And I’m a Qilin, so don’t you dare underestimate just how motivated and thorough I can be in that protection.”

Shion moved his left hand to rest over Nezumi’s and he turned his head to brush his lips against Nezumi’s temple briefly. “Even though you spend all your time saying how much your Qilin disposition is just a nuisance?”

Nezumi managed to hold in a smirk. “If I consider it a nuisance, imagine what I can make other people think of it.” Nezumi lifted his head and pulled away just enough so that he could see Shion’s face clearly, purposefully locking his gaze with red eyes and Shion maintained the eye contact. “You don’t do shit by half. Don’t let that change with us now. Whatever is going on with you, I’ll handle it with you. It’s not something optional for me because I won’t let it be. You’re the one thing I care about and you trying to protect me by keeping secrets isn’t something I’m going to go along with for much longer. And since it’s not even working out for you in any way, I don’t get why you haven’t already decided to bail on that strategy. Either way, our affinity is stable. That means we can start working on getting the relationship between us to that same stability.”

“And if I don’t have enough time for that to make a difference?”

If Nezumi didn’t already know about the mental degradation, he would have gotten suspicious with Shion saying that. As it was, it meant he wasn’t sure what he should say. If he completely dismissed it or underplayed his reaction, Shion would become suspicious that he already knew. And he wanted Shion revealing that to be his choice and not some sort of strong-arm move from Nezumi. And while it may come to that or Shion may still figure out that he already knew, he didn’t want that to become the focus of today, not when he thought he might have actually gotten through Shion’s formidable stubbornness.

“Why wouldn’t you have the time to figure us out?” Nezumi settled on saying. It shouldn’t raise any red flags in Shion’s mind.

Shion didn’t reply. Instead, his weight relaxed back against Nezumi, who had to slide forward a little more so Shion’s back wouldn’t be uncomfortably bowed. He wrapped his arms securely around Shion’s waist and pressed another kiss to Shion’s neck, for once purposefully aiming for the pale, unscarred skin just behind his jawline. Because as much as he loved touching the scarring that proved how strong Shion’s will to live was, he knew that Shion didn’t have the same opinion of his scarring and he didn’t want anything else negative to worm its way into Shion’s mind right now.

He’d accomplish that once he felt Shion could handle it by telling him about what Inukashi had told him.

Nezumi didn’t feel like they were in optimum shape to be facing off against any Oni but it wasn’t like they got to choose that. They would probably win in a confrontation against any Oni since they both had experience on their side but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t struggle too much in the process and Nezumi was worried about what they’d lose in that struggle.


	6. honesty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shion looks harder...

_The Mirror disposition, like many of the rare uncentered dispositions, requires immense mental discipline to command. Those willing to participate in evaluations and interviews concerning the behavior of their Mirror core all expressed a challenge in ensuring the core copied only the dispositions they chose when they commanded it. It is reported to be common for a Mirror to copy any disposition of core discharge it is exposed to. This causes great mental and physical strain and even distress to the user as they are potentially having to endure dispositions they have no experience in controlling._

_Seclusion of Mirror users up to eighteen months after their core awakening is recommended for their safety._

It wasn’t the first time Shion had read that recommendation in one of the research papers he’d read about Mirrors and he still hadn’t read anything that made him agree with that approach. It was a “solution” created from caution and didn’t do anything to prepare the user for actually handling living with a challenging disposition in the real world with the rigors of daily life.

It wasn’t enough to even be considered a band-aid.

Shion generally didn’t agree with seclusion of any disposition. It felt like the person was being told they did something wrong simply because they happened to possess a specific core, which wasn’t their choice. No one controlled what disposition they ended up with and that had been proven over and over again over centuries of attempts.

Cores formed – in theory that hadn’t quite been completely proven yet – from the charge of brain function combining with the kinetic energy produced by the body’s natural function and circulatory system and bonded permanently with the correct signal from the brain. There were further theories that it was a representation of the person gaining the ability to tap into a higher percentage of their brain function. Shion did think there was something to that considering how much mental discipline every disposition required to control abilities. There hadn’t been any correlation found between IQ and a user’s capacity for controlling their core abilities but Shion didn’t think that disproved the theory.

Then again, Shion had always been of the opinion that having a core didn’t make someone any more or less human. It was just a small part of what made a person who they were. Therefore, he knew he would always gravitate towards theories that supported that. And cores simply being the purest representation of the strongest instinct there was – survival – accomplished that for Shion.

Shion was living proof of cores responding to survival instinct and how involuntary it all was. His Dispel and Wraith cores had formed in the panic of trying to save himself while his Mirror core had been in response to not only his own survival but Nezumi’s as well.

His desire to survive was very strong, apparently.

Where had that gone, he wondered as he leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair. How could he have felt such an urge to remain alive when it was such a struggle to find enough desire to get out of bed most mornings now?

In fact, if he weren’t still feeling awkward about his conversation with Nezumi a few hours ago, he would likely still be in bed now. But he’d needed space to think things over and Nezumi had accepted that without even needing to be asked because Nezumi understood him on a level that would terrify him if it didn’t comfort him so much. But as he’d always struggled with things that came so naturally to many people, it was such a relief to have someone connected to him that was better at those things than him. Not everyone was so fortunate.

So he was grateful to Nezumi for not letting him pull away, for possibly figuring out what had been something affecting their affinity that Shion hadn’t even considered, and establishing his limits on what he expected from Shion. And nothing he’d said was unreasonable, not with them connected as they were now and attempting to be in a relationship that reflected the love they felt for one another.

He closed out the research paper and looked at the next few in line for him to read through. He’d read them a few days ago but he’d forgotten enough of what they said to feel like he needed to read them again. He read so much but only remembered about half of it even as he was aware that it had been a long time since he’d found something that felt monumentally important to his predicament.

The Mirror disposition was rare. A user with the Mirror disposition that was proficient with their abilities who had actually submitted their experience to reports was even rarer.

And Shion wouldn’t be able to make any official reports of his experience since he wasn’t going to tell anyone that he had four cores. As dedicated as he was to the progression of research into cores, he realized that he wasn’t keen on becoming the subject of research as would be guaranteed to happen.

He was an anomaly to an accepted truth to cores and those weren’t treated like simple rarities.

He would likely lose all choice as soon as the wrong person knew. And the mental degradation he was experiencing was practically proof that him being an anomaly didn’t excuse him from consequences.

He positioned his fingers over the keyboard and typed in a new search.

_Cores causing decreased mental function_

He’d been avoiding focusing on that particular search but felt like he was beyond the point where he should be seeing if this was something he could actually stop if not reverse.

He expected the top results to be about Beholders as it was well-known that the disposition that allowed the user to witness the past and view possibilities of the future came with the practically inevitable risk of the user losing their sanity. He still clicked on a few and scanned through them to see if anything matched up to what he was going through but didn’t find what he was looking for.

He was nearly to the end of the second page when he saw something that might be applicable, even though the heading indicated that it was closer to some sort of article rather than research.

_Chimera’s Curse: The Side Effects Only Chimeras Experience_

Shion checked the author but didn’t recognize the name. Not that it would have made a difference to him reading it. It would be quickly obvious if the author had done a reputable job of investigating the topic they were writing about. And he’d read enough to know that some journalists were as thorough as funded researchers.

He opened the article and leaned forward a little, settling into his usual posture for when he was working on the computer. He skimmed the first few paragraphs, using them to really gauge the competence of the author and deemed it acceptable enough to continue. It was about halfway through when he felt like he read something of interest that he didn’t recall finding in any of the research papers.

_Two things are readily accepted about Chimeras. First, the control of a Chimera is inferior to anyone with only one core. Even if they had pinpoint control before their second core formed, they will never have acceptable control. That was the grounds for Devas not accepting Chimeras, after all. Second, a Chimera’s core taint each other. It is one of the reasons the term “chimera” was given to those with more than one core: they are to be considered an unnatural combination. Thankfully, this isn’t a reason for the Deva’s refusal of Chimeras being allowed. At least, not as far as any documentation of Deva rules and regulations state and they have proven to remain greatly honest in that regard._

_These may have been facts centuries ago when cores were first becoming a recognized aspect of humanity, but we’ve come a long way since then. We’ve progressed way beyond the point of there being any truth to either statement. Chimeras should be considered the next step in the progression of core’s evolution. Yes, they require more work to learn control of their cores but that doesn’t mean they are less capable of gaining control. In fact, they are more capable as they have to learn things that aren’t standard to a core on its own. Upwards of eighty percent of Chimeras interviewed have reported they have abilities that are obviously a combination of the cores they have and so are unique to that combination._

_Wouldn’t it stand to reason that the general “truths” we teach kids need to change since neither of those statements are correct anymore? Chimeras are just as competent as those with a single core. Chimeras are capable of abilities that those with single cores aren’t._

_And what about some recognition of what Chimeras face that should genuinely get some attention: the increased likelihood of their bodies shutting down because of them having more core discharge circulating through their bodies more often. While the combination of cores is more of a factor in this than whether someone has two or three cores, there is still nearly sixty percent of Chimeras interviewed that report health issues. Increased fatigue that just doesn’t go away is the most common. Beyond that is actual outright organ failure, though never of the heart or brain where cores are actually centered, headaches, failing senses, and inhibited brain function. These are just what was reported so there is likely more and since those interviewed weren’t required to provide medical records, it is possible that some of them were suffering medical conditions. But that was still a lot health issues that just aren’t talked about as a possible concern for Chimeras. And it appears that this may be a more recent problem as well, like as Chimeras have become more balanced in their capabilities, the trade-off has been their health, like Beholders have to accept trading their sanity one day because of their power. It’s not a fair trade._

_And it will probably be some time before we see anything in Chimera research. Too much focus is still being given to finding common combinations, Chimera abilities, and ongoing research into affinities between Chimeras. This just isn’t important enough, not with so many variables. But if this continues to get worse, it’s only a matter of time before Chimeras begin dying because of these side effects._

Shion wondered if the author knew someone personally who had suffered extreme side effects. As they had gotten closer to the point, they had seemed to become more emotional about the subject, hadn’t retained a bias towards relaying information gathered. But even that appeared to enforce the message that they viewed this as a way Chimeras were being treated unfairly.

Chimeras weren’t necessarily discriminated against, not anymore. Most U.E.A. agents were Chimeras since they couldn’t become Devas. And they were respected in that position, even relied on by the Devas, like there was a factor of the Devas making sure Chimeras weren’t restricted by their policies and much smaller scope of only existing to oppose Oni. The U.E.A. was more for the day-to-day difficulties users faced with detaining Oni being only a part of that.

And having been a Deva, Shion’s experience told him that the Deva Prominents were being slow to change that policy because a Chimera brought some measure of unpredictability to a person. And the Devas operated mostly by understanding their people and assigning missions to those who they knew had the highest likelihood of success. That was more difficult to do when there was uncertainty to the limitations of the user.

Shion knew there had been a factor of that uncertainty with him when he’d been a Deva. Not because of his core since his abilities had been easily determined, but because of his intelligence. He had been able to do things others twice his age couldn’t because of how his mind worked and that had made them uncertain of where to draw the line with him.

But then he had become a Chimera. And not only had he lost his own knowledge of his limits, but the thing he had been very certain of – his mind – was failing him.

And it appeared that it was common enough that someone had caught on. The publish date for the article had been a few weeks ago and it wouldn’t take long for it to be read and followed up on. Shion knew that research with cores happened a bit faster than people gave it credit for. Things like this weren’t ignored. And just because there weren’t any published papers, that didn’t mean there were no studies being conducted. This was the sort of thing that would require longer testing periods so there would be some delay before anything official was released.

_…only a matter of time before Chimeras begin dying…_

Shion looked over that line a few more times. Could he die because of the mental degradation? It wasn’t outside the realm of possibilities, not with diseases such as Alzheimer’s regularly claiming lives despite the best efforts of Regens. After all, they couldn’t heal the disease, only keep the damage from progressing as quickly. It was merely a treatment option to help improve quality of life.

But Shion wasn’t facing a disease. He was combatting his own cores. And he was losing. Nezumi might had discovered why their affinity had struggled to stabilize, but that meant nothing to Shion’s cores eating away at his mind.

Shion’s thoughts turned toward what had happened on the roof the day before. It had been a long time since Shion had Mirrored another core, purposefully or accidentally. He’d been too focused on his other three cores since they were the ones on record and tracking his health. His Mirror core was simply there, Shion determined to ignore it.

But now that he was looking back on what had happened and able to see past the panic that had taken him in the moment he was unexpectedly cut off from Nezumi, he had to admit that there had been a certain…clarity in feeling his Mirror core working.

“Mirrors…” he mused absently.

He stood from his desk and headed for the bathroom, standing at the sink and looking into his reflection. He slowly raised his hand up, watching the motion in the mirror as he brought his hand to press against the scarring on his cheek.

He could feel the sensation of touching his scar, the skin always sensitive and constantly being touched by Nezumi. And he could feel the rub of skin on his fingertips as well as the warmth from his face and breath fanning out onto his hand.

He felt that. His reflection didn’t. The mirror didn’t care what it reflected. It merely displayed what it was shown with no exception. It didn’t decide what it displayed and revealed nothing beyond the surface.

What if it wasn’t just a matter of Shion taking the wrong approach concerning the Mirror disposition? What if the approach to the research itself was flawed? The research that he’d found had all been focused on learning how to keep from Mirroring every core it came across. And there weren’t many Mirrors to begin with so it didn’t receive a high priority for study. What if researchers had simply taken what they envisioned as the path of least resistance with the disposition?

After all, if one looked at it a different way, Mirrors could potentially be the most versatile users in existence, even more than Glyphs who were only restricted by the individual’s knowledge of the symbols used to channel their abilities. A Glyph could channel their power in a manner that would emulate another disposition.

But a Mirror…

“If a Glyph could be considered the ‘jack of all trades’, a Mirror could be the ‘master of all cores.’” Shion said in a whisper.

Well, perhaps mastering _all_ cores was ambitious, especially when he was having difficulty getting a handle on two of the ones he already had but that was him personally and not representative of everyone who had the Mirror disposition.

Being able to copy any disposition didn’t mean anything if there was no command over its abilities. And command wasn’t a surface detail: it was beyond what a Mirror could perceive. But all cores, no exception, required conscious thought to be commanded. Yes, there were aspects of many dispositions that was either automatic or subconscious but there was no such things as a core that didn’t require specific command. Even the most skilled user was determined to be so by how quickly they were able to apply controlled commands to their cores.

What if the trick to Shion’s core was that he simply had to learn how to use the cores he wanted to Mirror? And the mental degradation, what if it was because he wasn’t using his Mirror core at all? He knew enough about neurobiology to understand that the speed at which he thought, problem-solved, and the sheer volume of information he retained and could recall came down to the connections in his brain: a very physical, tangible thing. His Mirror core had been born of his mind working in a panic to try and save himself and Nezumi. He had Mirrored two cores consecutively that he had instinctively commanded but all that he had done could be traced back to knowledge he possessed. Even correctly using a Regen’s ability to accelerate healing was easily attributed to him having studied anatomy and understood how the body healed.

What if the degradation he was experiencing was his Mirror core failing to adjust to him at rest where his mind wasn’t working as quickly as it could?

It would actually fit with what he experienced with his Dispel and Wraith cores, which had also formed in a state of him being panicked. His Dispel core was extremely sensitive to all commands and he had to concentrate to hold back the amount of power it discharged at the simplest activation. And while his Wraith core wasn’t as easy to activate, it was still a matter of him needing to push his thoughts to extreme levels for it to behave in the manner he desired. That was partially because of how the manner of commands required for the Wraith core were much more aggressive than Shion naturally was but it wasn’t everything.

The side effects were because he hadn’t taught his cores to be at rest and their discharge was genuinely causing his body stress to the degree of mental degradation. And it was likely only because of his intelligence and vigilance in tracking his health and mental functions that he had even noticed that there was anything wrong. He had an awareness that what he’d noticed failing wouldn’t have been a major issue for many people. However, he regularly took advantage of his photographic memory and that was what he’d noticed being the first thing to be affected.

This was all a hypothesis but it made sense.

How could he test this? How could he figure it out for sure that this was what was happening?

How did one teach their cores how to…relax?

Shion watched in the mirror as his cheeks flushed slightly at the realization that part of his difficulty with this was likely because he himself wasn’t very good at relaxing. He couldn’t remain idle for very long before he felt the need to do _something_ so was it truly any surprise that his cores were the same.

What was most frustrating was that he wasn’t actually certain of how he was supposed to proceed, who he was supposed to ask for help or even what he was supposed to ask them if he did figure out the who aspect.

As much as he truly believed that he wasn’t the first person to have four cores awaken, that didn’t mean he was any less on his own for figuring this all out.

He dropped his hand to rest on the counter and his eyes drifted to the toothbrush and comb that belonged to Nezumi aside Shion’s own belongings.

Well, not completely on his own, he amended.

Six months since their affinity had formed, nearly nine since Nezumi had returned to his life and become a permanent fixture, even if neither of them had known that at the time, and yet Shion apparently hadn’t figured out how to handle things as a partner instead of on his own.

Nezumi deserved so much more than him but never gave any indication that he wanted anything besides Shion.

He was also standing outside the door, Shion noted before wondering what exactly had made Nezumi approach him even that much when they’d been giving each other a wide berth the whole day. It wasn’t like he had made any sudden movements or said anything loud enough that he should have gotten Nezumi’s attention. And Shion wasn’t nearly as skilled at being aware of others but even he could pick up the rustling of clothes and the barest hint of breathing just around the corner of the doorframe where Nezumi was. He was probably leaning against the wall just to the side of the door, a general location he tended to favor no matter where he was. Shion suspected it was a combination of his cautious nature and the protective instincts of his Qilin core that made him feel most comfortable near a room’s entry point.

“Nezumi,” Shion called out, his voice barely above a whisper, not that he would require to speak any louder, not to Nezumi when he was that close.

Nezumi slid around the doorframe, leaning his shoulder against it as he shoved his hands deep into his pants pockets and looked at Shion through the mirror. They simply looked at each other for about a minute before Nezumi broke the silence. “Haven’t seen you that excited in months,” he said with a pleased smirk. “Which part did you figure out?”

“What do you mean?” Shion responded instead of answering for the moment, just allowing himself to be curious.

“That expression is reserved for when you figure something out that you’ve been obsessing over. First time I saw it was when you figured out how to really activate the abilities of your Wraith and Dispel cores after they awakened. It’s a look I like you to have, that excitement. Much better than the old man frown you have when you’re stuck on something. As you can imagine, I’ve seen that one a lot lately. But that’s all the distraction I’m giving you today. What did you figure out?”

Shion watched himself smile in the mirror. “Potentially everything. At least as far as my cores and our connection is concerned.”

Nezumi’s smirk faltered for just a second before he recovered and tipped his chin back a little. “Oh, is that all? Did you even make an effort to go for the smaller questions?”

“I was willing to accept a smaller scale but why not aim higher?” he said, allowing his wit to come forward. Being around Nezumi, it was only natural that one became more proficient in sarcasm and witty comments; it almost became a matter of survival in associating with the young man.

Nezumi rolled his eyes as he usually did whenever Shion gave him a response like that and stood up straight. He closed the distance between them and positioned himself directly behind Shion before leaning forward, placing one hand on the edge of the counter on either side of Shion’s body with his chest pressed to the length of his back, surrounding Shion in a way that didn’t make him feel trapped. He knew that Nezumi would allow him to move if he chose to.

Instead he placed his left hand over Nezumi’s as he slipped his right under Nezumi’s arm and held his forearm. Welcoming the position while allowing Nezumi freedom to move in closer as he eventually would.

“I’ve been experiencing side effects from the core discharge building up constantly in my body,” he admitted, making sure he kept watching Nezumi, doing what he could to make sure he didn’t retreat now that he knew how much he needed to move forward.

Nezumi’s gaze remained steady. “What sort of side effects?”

“Decreased mental function mainly but also fatigue and sometimes pain in the vicinity of my cores.”

“For how long?” His tone was being purposefully kept flat so Shion couldn’t read him and determine what Nezumi was feeling about what he was saying.

“Months. It’s becoming more noticeable, more trackable of a difference between my capabilities before and after having the Mirror core awaken.”

“So it’s because of the Mirror core, because of having four?”

“Perhaps, though it is possible I would have experienced it even without the forming of a fourth core.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Because I’ve struggled with every core except my first one, all of them having awakened under extreme duress.”

“People struggle to control their cores all the time. Why do you have to suffer brain damage because of it?”

Shion found himself frowning at that though he wasn’t certain what had gained his attention. Perhaps it had been how Nezumi had phrased his question and Shion had learned a long time ago that Nezumi chose his words purposefully. “I believe I have allowed my cores to exist in a constant state of alert, the state they awakened under. And with them in that state, it has put stress on my body for over six months, the addition of the fourth core and it being one with a high power output speeding up the effects significantly.”

“So it just got you to a noticeable level faster?”

“Noticeable for me. Possibly not by anyone else since there is more about how my mind works that can alert me to something being different. Problem solving and the matter of my photographic memory most notably.”

“Can you reverse it now that you know what’s causing it?”

That was it. Nezumi wasn’t just falling back into old habits of keeping his true emotions hidden. He was being evasive.

“You already knew,” Shion said.

Nezumi finally broke eye contact but it was so he could turn his face into Shion’s neck and press a firm kiss to the skin behind his ear as his arms wrapped tightly around Shion’s waist, Shion’s hands following the motion as his weight was pressed into the counter with Nezumi leaning him forward.

“Yeah, I knew. You’d tell me when you were ready for me to know, to help.”

Nezumi had figured that Shion would come to him when he had some direction for them to take concerning it. And that hadn’t been a conscious decision Shion made, Nezumi simply understood him better than anyone.

“Don’t misunderstand: just because I didn’t call you on it doesn’t mean I agree with you keeping it to yourself. But I’ve already got on your case about your comprehension of having a partner within the past twenty-four hours so I’ll just lump this in with that lecture.” Nezumi pressed another kiss to Shion’s neck before he picked his head up and kissed his temple. “So you’ve worked out the problem. What’s the solution?”

“I need to learn how to teach my cores to accept being at rest. And my Mirror core needs guidance, accomplished through use.”

Nezumi’s grey eyes shot Shion an irritated look in the mirror. “Still giving me generalizations, Shion. Remember, I like the devil of the details. Survival is in the details.”

“As far as teaching my cores rest, I’m not actually certain about what to do there. I’ll need to do some more research for that. However, as far as my Mirror core is concerned, I actually need to let it copy dispositions and learn how to use them. That will help it create a stronger connection to me and I will gain more general control over it instead of having it simply exist within me.”

“Become the ‘master of all cores’?” Nezumi said with a slight grin and Shion gave him a small smile at the other man’s admission of how long he’d been waiting outside the bathroom.

“Well, controlling a Mirror core is to know how to command dispositions that aren’t mine, even if it is for a short time. I should have realized that sooner.”

“You’ve been busy.”

Nezumi gave him another brief squeeze around his waist before he loosened his hold and pressed against Shion’s hips, indicating for him to turn around. Shion followed the prompt and turned to face Nezumi, who immediately grabbed onto his hips and lifted him onto the counter, Shion sliding back enough that he was seated comfortably and parting his legs so Nezumi could slide between them to stand close. Shion couldn’t help but frown in confusion and curiosity at the position though. This was a bit more restrictive than Nezumi usually allowed him. He wasn’t uncomfortable, trusting in Nezumi completely as he did, but it was a strange turn in the mood between them, Nezumi becoming quite intense.

“Nezumi?” Shion asked as Nezumi’s hands reached up to cup his cheeks and he made insistent eye contact.

“There’s something I need to tell you, too. I was going to tell you before but felt like it could wait after how that last conversation went.”

“What is it?” Shion was even more concerned now.

“Inukashi talked to me yesterday, had information to pass along.”

Shion reached up with his right hand and took hold of Nezumi’s arm again. “About the Oni?” It was the only business Nezumi kept standing with Inukashi right now.

Nezumi gave a brief nod. “The Oni is making his rounds back this way. Rumor has it he’s actually looking to settle things between us.” Shion honestly wasn’t surprised by that, not when the last time he’d been around had resulted in Nezumi tracking him down. He couldn’t work freely as long as Nezumi was a concern. “That isn’t everything she said, though. He heard about a kid that helped me take a few Oni out six months ago. That’s enough to pique his curiosity and he’s likely going to try and track him down to see for himself what the deal is there.”

He’d heard about Shion? How much did he know? Was Shion going to be back to needing to watch everything he did for fear of an Oni coming after him?

Nezumi slid his right hand around to cup the back of Shion’s head, combing his fingers soothingly through Shion’s hair as he did so. “He doesn’t have your name but he knows about the parts that make you easy to identify.” There was a slight tug to some of his hair and Shion knew for sure what he meant.

Shion missed the days where he blended easily into a crowd because of his normal hair and eye color and no scarring to make him unique. Just knowing the most basic of his features was enough to find him, meaning he could lead the Oni to Nezumi, who at least knew how to not be found if he didn’t want to be despite being someone who tended to gain attention because of his appearance. Shion was aware that part of the reason he refused to listen to Nezumi about concealing his features was a refusal to accept that he really couldn’t just live like he did before he’d been attacked by the Plague.

Would Nezumi leave him to confront the Oni once and for all? Would he keep his distance so Shion couldn’t lead the Oni to him or vice versa?

Nezumi reached up with his left hand and leaned back enough so that he could flick Shion’s forehead, the minor sting startling Shion more than anything and he blinked a few times before bringing his attention fully back to Nezumi, who was giving him an irritated look.

“Whatever idea you just let go through your head, forget it.”

“What do…” Shion began but was interrupted by another flick that was followed by Nezumi leaning in close to let his lips hover over Shion’s distractingly in how he wasn’t actually kissing him.

“You got the same look right after we met again when you were worried you wouldn’t see me again. It makes an irritating encore every once in a while and I’m done with it. I’m not leaving you. Not only would that not do either of us any good but I don’t want to. We do best when we’re on the same page so let’s make sure we get there and stay that way.”

Shion closed his eyes and leaned forward a little, angling his head so that his forehead rested against Nezumi’s.

“We’ll figure it out?” he asked.

“Yeah, of course. I know the Oni and you know pretty much everything else so what’s not to figure out?” Nezumi replied and then angled his head to actually give Shion a kiss, holding it for a few seconds before letting them part back to hover close. Shion wrapped both arms loosely around Nezumi’s waist, holding on even as Nezumi slid forward the last bit so he was fully in contact with Shion and then they just stayed there.

Shion was glad that he’d told Nezumi and knew he should have done so sooner. And while there was now a looming threat of an Oni targeting them – again – Shion felt like they were in a better state with each other to handle it.


	7. Retrain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They give Safu a second try...

“I’m confused. Just why are you coming to me with this?” Safu asked, crossing her arms as she looked between Shion and Nezumi from across the café table. “First Nezumi and now you. Don’t get me wrong: I’m happy to see you Shion, but you’re just taking shots at my pride when you ask me to help with something that isn’t necessarily something I know much about.”

“But what we’re asking you about _is_ connected more to neurology than cores,” Shion replied. “Besides, I know that you’ve included core interaction with the brain as part of your studies, especially over the past year.”

“Yes but that doesn’t automatically qualify me for being able to guide you through figuring out how to completely alter how your cores exist within you. You really are better off talking to someone who actually understands what it’s like. You know, another user.” She nodded towards Nezumi then before adding, “You’ve got one right there. And he’s even a Chimera so he knows how to balance controlling more than one disposition.”

“You actually want me to understand how his brain works?” Nezumi replied with a raised eyebrow. “I figured you’d be all for showing me up in this.”

Safu gave him a tolerant look and Nezumi counted that as a win for him.

Shion gave Nezumi’s stomach a quick jab with his elbow. Nezumi huffed at the unexpected hit and grabbed onto Shion’s arm, hooking his hand around his forearm to keep him from doing it again since he was very likely going to be saying something else sarcastic before they were done here today and Shion was apparently in the mood to try and deter him.

“Really, Shion, you can’t only come to me because I’m the only one besides Nezumi who knows your secret. You don’t have to reveal everything to someone in order to get their help. All you have to do is pick a core you can go without mentioning you have and just don’t mention it. After all, you’ve made good progress with your Dispel and Wraith dispositions so you can omit one of them and it won’t make much difference, right?”

“It’s not just that I need help with learning control over the cores, though. I’m not actually sure what I need to do here and I thought you could at least help me figure out where to start. We’ve always worked well together and I believe that will be more helpful to me right now than finding some random user who offers training.”

That at least was completely true and what Shion had told Nezumi was his reasoning for going to Safu first. Because, all joking aside, Nezumi didn’t think he could actually help Shion figure this out. He’d tried to think of a way to tell Shion how his cores functioned when he wasn’t controlling any abilities, but he just had never thought about there being a difference between them when active or not besides just that. He didn’t struggle to activate his cores and it didn’t take any effort for them to remain dormant when he wasn’t accessing them. This was just something he couldn’t wrap his brain around in a way that would be helpful to Shion. And it didn’t seem like a pure intelligence thing in this case, but merely a difference in how they worked through things or even down to how they controlled their cores.

Which wasn’t too surprising as Nezumi’s dispositions were both more malleable in nature than Shion’s.

Though Nezumi did mention that maybe Shion’s difficulty in not breaking everything down to the finest detail might be a factor here and Shion had agreed.

Hopefully Safu would be able to either make a less daunting prospect than trying to completely alter how Shion thought at all times or at least help Shion figure out what he needed to look for in someone else being able to guide him through this. And, personally, Nezumi was hoping for the former because it meant that he wouldn’t have to watch some stranger at all times he was around Shion to make sure they didn’t become a threat.

Nezumi didn’t trust anyone already so him being unable to trust anyone with Shion was an intense instinct for him to deal with.

At least Shion seemed aware of that and hadn’t done anything to discourage him.

“I guess it couldn’t hurt,” Safu acquiesced after a short time of consideration. She still didn’t sound convinced though.

“It couldn’t hurt you. But as you just saw, he’s experiencing a propensity towards violence when it comes to me today,” Nezumi muttered even as he shifted his grip down to Shion’s hand and then took it along when he slid his hands into his jacket pockets.

Shion’s cheeks dusted red briefly at the move.

“Oh, I didn’t realize that was unusual,” Safu retorted smoothly enough and Nezumi had to hold back a smirk, genuinely amused but not wanting to show that to Safu. She turned her attention back to Shion and asked, “Where do we start?”

“Studying neurobiology had to include something about cores,” Shion said, his insistent tone doing a reasonable job of covering his anxiety of Safu not having an answer. He believed in and trusted Safu but he wasn’t too much of an optimist to be disconnected from reality and he’d been smacked around by reality a lot in the past year. He’d spent months being stonewalled about this so Nezumi knew he was worried about this conversation not going in his favor at all.

“Personal interest because of my best friend’s situation notwithstanding, yes it does. The existence of a core in the body, no matter where it’s centered, results in the forming of neural pathways that don’t exist in people without cores. It is theorized and nearly proven that these pathways are how commands from the brain to the core is transmitted. The strength of these pathways are inefficient to begin with and then are either honed or deteriorate based on how much the person trains to control their core. It’s nothing out of the ordinary for how the brain works in general.”

“Is there any notable difference between cores that develop more naturally opposed to one formed and awakened under stress or in response to a traumatic event?” Shion asked and Nezumi was already grateful that while he wasn’t nearly as intelligent as either of these two, he still wasn’t stupid and would hopefully be able to follow along without interrupting them and possibly throwing them off any stride they got into. He knew how Shion got when he was working through something, after all.

“The theory needs to be proven first, funding for that kind of research being what it is. Keep in mind that the way we understand cores and how they work is still only a few decades old. Research not only has to find out the truth but needs to disprove some very old beliefs that have been taught a certain way for so long. It’s a heavy order for anyone to pursue through the entire process and we’re only recently seeing less studies being stonewalled because the theory goes against common misconceptions.”

“Such as the belief that Chimeras have inherently less control over their abilities.”

“Yes, to name one of the most widely accepted lies. And while there is a measure of difficulty to a Chimera learning how to control their abilities that someone with one core doesn’t experience, it’s been exacerbated, likely as an old form of manipulating the masses, claiming that having more than one core was a sign of impurity or something equally ridiculous.”

“Is it really so ridiculous when there are still extremists who see certain dispositions as abominations that should be wiped out?” Nezumi pointed out. With his own history, that was a sore subject that he couldn’t resist making a point of.

Shion’s hand squeezed at his comfortingly.

And Safu was nodding agreement at least. “Yes, regardless of how long cores have been a part of humanity, it’s somewhat unbelievable how much animosity some people can have against them.”

“People fear what is different from them. It’s human nature,” Shion added in a low voice. “And they don’t need to do something to classify them as an Oni to have poor opinions.”

“Yeah, well, take away the core part of an Oni and you’re just left with a criminal,” Nezumi pointed out. People – especially people without cores – tended to forget that “Oni” was ultimately a fancy title given to people who broke the law, but just used cores to do it. They weren’t “demons” like the word translated to and very few of them were actually seriously bad.

Shion just happened to have come across ones that were truly deserving of the moniker.

“So, did you ask about the circumstances of core awakening being a factor because you have reason to believe it does?” Safu asked to get them back on track. Usually that was Nezumi’s job but even he would admit to himself that Safu had been doing it longer than him.

“I hypothesize that it is the reason behind my own difficulty. Three of my cores formed under duress and I think that has made them be permanently on alert because I don’t know how to command them to be any other way.”

“You’re talking nearly nine months for two of your cores being in that state.”

“And I have reason to believe that it is adversely affecting me. To be honest, if there were no affect, I wouldn’t be concerned. But I really am running out of time to be able to handle this without any additional…complications.”

Nezumi grinned as he thought that Shion had managed to be quite diplomatic about that. It was usually Nezumi who was better about that. Or at least he was better about finding plenty of ways to word something since he didn’t give a shit about being diplomatic.

Safu narrowed her eyes at Shion for his trouble but didn’t seem like she was going to question him about it. “If that’s the case, then it is possible that the neural pathways that are foundational to the connections of your cores to your brain aren’t the most efficient connections but because of how adaptive your mind is to complex thought patterns, it has managed to still work.”

“If the initial pathways are what everything else is built around, how is he supposed to actually change anything about it?”

“Simple: he breaks a bad habit and forms a good one.”

Nezumi would have taken his hands out of his pockets to cross his arms for the slight boost in intimidation factor it would give the flat look he was giving Safu if that hadn’t meant letting go of Shion’s hand. “Right, because everyone knows that breaking a bad habit is ridiculously easy.”

“It’s easier than brain surgery,” Safu shot back flippantly enough even as Shion fidgeted a bit at Nezumi’s side.

“That’s not the alternative, is it?” he asked and Safu looked surprised at the question.

“No, of course not,” she said still seeming like she hadn’t expected him to take her seriously about that. Even Nezumi wasn’t sure if Shion was serious or had just been offering a distraction to intervene with the two. “So, here’s what we’ll get you working on. For the next day or so, do some control drills in front of a mirror with your Clairvoyant core active. If it wasn’t you, I wouldn’t even suggest this but I know how much work you’ve put into that disposition before and after the Plague attacked you and made you start all over again with it. Because I’m telling you what to look for, the pathways of your command over your cores, I think you might be able to see enough that you can actually determine the path. And you know enough about the brain that you can figure out what would be a better path for you. Then you just don’t let your command follow the path in place and force it to follow the better one. Eventually, the unused path will weaken and fade away while the new one gets stronger. Maybe you can even use your affinity in some way here. It’s healthy and strong by now so that’s something healthy that has nothing to do with your command over your cores.”

Nezumi wondered if Safu really didn’t realize just how much she was asking of Shion here. While she knew about what the Plague had done to Shion’s Clairvoyant core, disconnecting it from him and making him start completely over again with his abilities, she seemed to be underestimating how much work it was taking for him to get over the lost abilities. His Clairvoyant vision, while much improved, still had literal gaps that were different dependent on what he was looking for.

Nezumi looked over toward Shion but his expression didn’t reveal if that was the case, the other teen just seeming like he was intensely focused on what he was thinking about. And there wasn’t any touch of core power in his eyes that could only really be seen when this close so he hadn’t activated his Clairvoyant core. He tended to do that when he wanted to confirm a certain level of his vision. And because he wasn’t relying on it regularly like he’d been when he was a Deva, he seemed to have to check more often, to have less of an automatic awareness of his capabilities.

“Has there been any records of this approach working, even unofficial accounting of user’s experience not connected to research?”

Safu gave him a raised eyebrow, looking more amused than anything. “This specifically, no. Then again, when it comes to what specifically works, it’s practically impossible to find something in common all across the board. But if you look for people’s general approach, you can find the commonalities and that’s what I’m going off of. How do you think those neural pathways were initially discovered?”

“I’d assumed a CT scan. It is more sensitive than the human eye and not subject to bias or those differences in abilities that we keep coming back to.”

Safu laughed and Nezumi had to hold in a smirk.

“Okay, yes, CT scans were involved. But nothing beats a Clairvoyant being able to pick up on the fine points of core discharge.”

“So, rewire how my brain controls my cores. That’s all?” Nezumi loved hearing Shion being facetious when it wasn’t being directed at him.

Then again, it was a bit less amusing for Safu to be the recipient since she not only knew Shion well but was also so ridiculously good at reading body language and picking out the subtleties of tone and speech patterns that she wouldn’t be baited like others might be.

“Drill it no less than three times a day. But don’t go overboard with it either. Exhausting your cores with this will only make them revert to operating defensively regardless of what you’re trying to do and them being low on power will make it harder to see their discharge.”

“I have other things I’ll be working on so I’ll make sure to keep it balanced. If nothing else, I’ve developed a good awareness of my power capabilities.”

Safu’s demeanor changed just a little, indicating that what she was going to say was more serious. “Are _you_ going to keep records and contribute what you find?”

Well, that explained the shift in tone. Safu knew as well as Nezumi that Shion downplayed his own potential contribution to what he spent so much time researching. Just because he wasn’t some average guy on the street didn’t mean that what he found out with this wasn’t as valuable as anyone else’s experience. In fact, his intelligence and ability to understand things in just enough of a different way might make all the difference to someone else having success with their cores or research taking some steps forward.

“I can’t officially for any research. They don’t accept anonymous accountings. And even for those that remain anonymous in results released, the research team knows and conducts full physicals and core evaluations on all participating users. I wouldn’t be able to maintain my secret.”

“Shion, you walking down any street that happens to have a user with certain dispositions active is a risk to maintaining your secret. And you sort of stand out. They just need to get a passing glance at your features and your identity is exposed to anyone investigating the person who seems to have four cores.”

Nezumi had been pressing the reality of that being a risk to Shion ever since their affinity had formed, mostly of the uniqueness of his features making it all too easy to track him down by, but he hadn’t made any progress there for a while. He’d accept Safu being the reason Shion took that seriously if it meant he actually did something about it. Not going anywhere without a hat would even be acceptable. Sunglasses that at least partially covered the scarring on his cheek would also be acceptable. Both would be ideal.

Shion’s eyes dropped to the table and his hand squeezed at Nezumi’s, though it seemed to be him tensing more than anything. His entire demeanor became more sullen, Nezumi not really expecting that change.

“I know,” he said, his voice taking on the tone that made him sound about a decade older than he was.

Nezumi had a love/hate relationship with that particular tone. First and foremost, Shion had experienced enough by now that he had earned the wisdom it implied. But on the other hand, he still had that measure of innocence to him Nezumi hadn’t seen in anyone else before that had drawn him in originally. Between the two, Nezumi would take the side he recognized the most in the one he loved.

Safu let out a sigh as she leaned back in her chair and pushed her hands into her jacket pockets. “The longer you take to really accept what happened to you with the Plague attacking you, the better off you’ll be. Willful ignorance doesn’t suit you.”

As much as Nezumi was blunt with Shion, he couldn’t point out things he didn’t know. He had no idea that Shion was hung up on anything about the attempt there had been on Shion’s life and how it had completely changed him, from his appearance to his cores. He’d thought Shion had put it behind him and wasn’t letting it bother him. Honestly, it wasn’t the sort of thing that usually got to Shion. He’d accepted danger as a part of being a Deva.

Hadn’t he?

Shion looked up to his friend before lowering his gaze again, now seeming even more weary.

“One Oni and I lost everything familiar. But it was almost a year ago. I was supposed to be fine with it by now.”

“Right, because it’s easy to come to terms with people wanting to kill you for superfluous reasons,” Nezumi muttered and Shion squeezed his hand again, though it was very much a conscious motion this time.

When it came to speaking from experience on that particular subject, Nezumi certainly had plenty to pull from.

Safu paused, possibly to see if Nezumi would say anything else, then spoke when it was obvious he wouldn’t. “You don’t just wake up one day after something like that happens and your brain decides that it doesn’t affect you anymore. It takes work to move beyond trauma, Shion. And an Oni targeting you, attacking you, and that attack resulting not only in the forming of two cores that meant you lost your purpose as a Deva but also altering your very physical appearance provides trauma on multiple levels for you to process. Maybe spending the next few days looking at yourself in the mirror will get you used to seeing what’s there.”

Nezumi didn’t think Shion necessarily avoided looking at his reflection. He just wasn’t the kind of person to be really concerned with how he looked so he didn’t have reason to look in one very often. That was going to be his argument for not knowing for sure if Safu was onto something there or not. As much as he believed that he knew Shion very well, there had to be things like this that he missed.

He was also so hyperaware of the ways he knew Shion to be strong that it was possible that he was allowing himself to overlook the weaknesses. After all, the less weaknesses there were, the less Nezumi had to actually worry when there was plenty about Shion he needed to worry about.

“Let me know when you’ve got results one way or another. I’ll look into it some more and maybe I’ll find something more applicable to your situation.”

And this was probably part of the reason Shion hadn’t gone to Safu sooner and may have actually been avoiding her: now that she knew some details, there was no way she was going to stay out of it. She was going to do as much as she wanted to help him, no matter if he protested.

“Send me anything you find. Right now I think it might be best if I just focus on the training and minimize distractions.”

Safu narrowed her eyes at Shion and Nezumi again had to applaud her internally for just how good her instincts were when it came to reading people. She knew there was something Shion wasn’t telling her and was obviously deciding whether or not she should press the issue. But considering that this was a way for Shion to cut back on how much he was in public and potentially visible to the Oni looking for them, Nezumi wouldn’t let her push too much. _This_ wasn’t Safu’s business simply because she was Shion’s friend.

“Just make sure you keep in touch with your mom. Just because you can take care of yourself and she knows you can doesn’t mean she doesn’t worry when you don’t talk to her. And you have no one to blame but yourself on this one for having a good relationship with her growing up.”

Finally some of the tension eased around Shion’s eyes and in the grip of his hand as he nodded acceptance of Safu’s point. Nezumi talking with Karan the day before had likely put her somewhat at ease but he knew nothing would compare to her actually speaking with Shion. He’d make sure Shion called if they didn’t stop by the bakery.

“Thank you, Safu. It really means a lot to me that I can rely on you like this. I just don’t have many options or resources right now. And this…” He glanced over his shoulder to Nezumi. “…Well it isn’t something Nezumi is very familiar with. He’s all he can to help me and will continue to do so but this isn’t where his strengths lie.”

The fact that Shion was merely speaking his mind got Nezumi the closest he’d been in a long time to actually feeling somewhat embarrassed. Nothing too prominent and nowhere near enough to get him to do anything so ridiculous as blush but he did feel a rush of affection towards his affinity partner.

He hoped he never found a way to ruin what Shion saw of him. Shion’s image of him was something he actually let the urge to live up to and that felt more important than anything he’d experienced before in his life.

Shion and Safu let the conversation turn more casual for about another half hour when she declared that she needed to leave. Shion gave her a quick hug before she left and the partners remained seated at the table, silent for a few minutes in thought.

“I thought you were going to tell her,” Nezumi eventually said even as he reached back for Shion’s hand and pulled it back into his pocket with their fingers intertwined. Shion allowed it with no sign of not wanting the contact.

“I thought I would, too. But she made an excellent point against me doing so without even meaning to.”

Nezumi thought over the conversation and took a guess. “That coming across the right disposition is all it takes?”

“Readers may not often keep their cores active casually as that can be dangerous and very few have the strength and talent to accomplish that usefully, there is always the possibility that we will pass someone doing just that and if me having four cores is on ours or Safu’s mind, they’d know about it. And you are always telling me to expect and plan for the worst-case scenario.”

“Yeah, well, your history says that’s just a good idea.”

Shion gave a small smile at that but it passed quickly. “The less Safu actually knows in direct relation to me, the better. She’ll be approaching more as a general point of research and study. It’s a slight difference in how her mind should work to be the safer option.”

Nezumi moved to stand, leaning over to press a quick kiss to Shion’s temple on the way and he kept hold of Shion’s hand so he had to follow as he started heading for the door. He figured that it would do Shion some good to pay his mom a visit. Spending time with her always improved Shion’s mood, understandably. Shion followed behind easily enough, already seeming to be lost in thought. Not that it ever took long for that to happen with Shion.

“When I was a Deva, there were reports of an active and skilled Reader in the city. They were never classified as an Oni but they were also never identified. There would just be anonymous tips submitted to us, the U.E.A., and other law enforcement. And what was being reported was too various and sensitive that it was very unlikely to be from anyone but a Reader.”

“But without being a Deva you don’t know if those reports are still coming in or not. Were you guys even able to narrow down where they might be?”

Shion’s cheeks flushed just a little. “I wasn’t involved with any attempts to identify or track the Reader. I happened to see a report on Shohei’s desk one day when we were talking about another investigation.”

Nezumi smirked at Shion’s admission. His photographic memory struck again.

“Well, we already know that no Deva is going to share information like that with a civilian, even if that civilian is a former Deva.”

“The only concern would be if they are also giving anonymous tips to Oni as well. There were no indications of that, no assignments countered in a way that indicated the Oni knew about our plans or Devas or agents being attacked at random with no trackable inciting incident.” Shion let out a deep sigh, sounding so tired that Nezumi actually considered changing their destination to head back to their apartment. “I wish I could just stop feeling like I need to think about all this. My mind just spent the past few minutes recalling the Reader before coming to the conclusion that the likelihood that there’s even a reason to be concerned about them. But I went through so much information of what I recalled of all the reports and assignments from when I was a Deva to reach that conclusion. Is it any wonder that my mind is failing under duress?”

Nezumi shrugged, doing all he could to not get pulled into Shion’s self-depreciating turn of mood. While he could usually be brutally honest with Shion and have it be received well enough, he didn’t feel like that was the approach to take right now. “I’d rather have you go through all that and determine there isn’t an issue than to not go through it and miss something. Stop thinking that everything you’re doing is part of the problem here.”

Shion didn’t respond, just followed along beside Nezumi and seemed to get lost in his head. Nezumi decided to let it happen this time around. Shion was used to letting his mind work and he was about to spend his days altering his thought process. And because it was Shion, he wouldn’t be doing that only when he was in front of a mirror like Safu had said. Nezumi knew that once Shion found what he needed to, he wouldn’t stop working on it and that was what would mean he got this figured out and solved more than anything.

Then, they could focus on their external threats.

Because Nezumi _really_ didn’t want them figuring shit out while in a fight with Oni again, despite how that seemed to be Shion’s forte.


	8. Steps Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Inukashi returns...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone.  
> I'm sorry for missing last week's update. I was housesitting and didn't have internet on my computer. So, no update since I'm not transcribing almost 7k words onto my phone. -_-  
> But back on schedule now. Hope you enjoy and thank you for reading :)

Two days into Shion drilling himself to try and alter the command paths of his brain, Nezumi probably would have said this wasn’t going to help.

Four days in and he _definitely_ would have said so with how frustrated Shion had become from how he seemed to be just a little bit off of what he needed to be accomplishing.

Eight days had been his turning point, Shion declaring that he’d seen his command follow a different path along his mind and through his body to his heart and the core centered there.

Eleven days had Shion able to do it consistently.

They were on day thirteen and Shion was still working on getting that consistency to shift into being automatic. He was still having trouble getting the results he needed when he wasn’t watching his command path in the mirror. But he had mentioned the day before that he thought he had some awareness of the path now. When Nezumi had asked him to elaborate, he’d been unable to say much more since he wasn’t sure yet if he really could feel something or if he was just associating things with what he saw when he was working in the mirror.

At least all his cores had seemed receptive to the shift. Nezumi had been ready to intervene, especially when Shion would command his Dispel core, which had always been hypersensitive to any possibility of being active. And that was the one that Shion wanted to get pinpoint control over the most as he really wanted to develop a layer of Dispel discharge that he could keep active at all times as a defense, holding only enough power to keep any threat from actually reaching Shion but not draining him constantly. That wouldn’t be possible without him having anything less than everything the core did being completely controlled.

This would be the second time Nezumi had watched Shion while he was in the process of intense training with his cores. And between him being closer to Shion in general this time around in addition to the affinity giving him some awareness of Shion and his core discharge that he simply wouldn’t have otherwise.

And it was a combination of those that told Nezumi that Shion felt…different than he had two weeks ago. And as Nezumi wasn’t the kind of person to indulge in flights of fancy or positive thinking, he was pretty sure he wasn’t just seeing what he wanted to see: Shion improving which was synonymous to his health and safety.

He was tempted to check Shion’s computer again to see if he’d added anymore logs about his status to confirm his impressions. But then he decided against it, figuring that it wasn’t the best way to help build their relationship as partners. He wanted Shion to trust him because he’d earned it, not just because people said you were supposed to trust your partner. Especially since trusting someone didn’t necessarily have anything to do with feeling love for them.

Then again, regardless of Shion’s status with his training, Nezumi figured they were about to be strong-armed into a shift in focus. Inukashi had sent one of her mutts – the one that liked Shion – to their apartment and the dog was currently sleeping outside their door since Nezumi was refusing to let it inside. But it being there at all was a pretty good indication that Inukashi was looking to visit. And the only reason she would actually go out of her way would be if she thought she had something worthwhile to pass along.

Nezumi had sort of started hoping that Inukashi and Rikiga’s intel had fallen through, that the Oni had decided not to come through. For no other reason than he didn’t want Shion to be targeted again. He could handle himself against the Oni, now better than when he was thirteen, but the Oni could figure out Nezumi and Shion had an affinity and use it against them too easily.

And Shion had long ago proven that he didn’t exactly have the most sensible decision-making when it came to facing Oni. He would probably choose to face off against the Oni simply because he was one responsible for causing Nezumi pain.

Shion got…intimidating when someone truly insulted Nezumi, rare of an occasion as that was. And he was downright terrifying, even to Nezumi, if he believed there was a threat to his affinity partner. Nezumi had dedicated himself to making sure that side of Shion didn’t see much light of day.

But right now, Shion was sitting in the middle of the couch with books spread out around him on the cushions to his sides and on the floor in front of him. Nezumi had walked by about half an hour after Shion had gotten started and looked over some of the titles and had just gotten more confused as to what Shion was doing when he saw they were all focused on anatomy and medical science.

Shion had glanced up at him and caught his confused expression but had simply leaned forward enough to kiss Nezumi’s cheek briefly and playfully before returning back to whatever he was doing. Nezumi had just rolled his eyes and grabbed one of his books at random off the shelf and settled down in the loveseat, sitting at an angle where he could see Shion out of his peripherals.

He’d give Shion until his curiosity became strong enough that he actually asked what Shion was doing. Maybe his partner would say something on his own before that.

It was pretty late into the afternoon when there was an insistent knock on the door. Nezumi moved to stand quickly enough that Shion wouldn’t try, not that he would have been able to get up very fast as he was juggling between three books opened across his lap. Nezumi walked around behind the couch so he could ruffle Shion’s hair teasingly as he passed.

“I’ll let you know when you can start answering the door again,” he declared.

“It’s not like we’re on any books as being the ones living here. The Devas are better about their offers to previous members who left in good standing than that,” Shion replied with a slight huff to his tone as he pushed his hair down.

“Right, because the only way to figure out where someone lives is to look up their names in an address book,” Nezumi shot back as he grabbed one of the knives he kept stashed on one of the shelves along the hall to the door. And while he was pretty sure it was just Inukashi, he didn’t survive as long as he had by letting probabilities be the determining factor in his caution.

Fortunately, this apartment had something simple that his previous accommodations didn’t: a peephole. He leaned down to line up his eye with the small hole and took a quick glance through. A mop of long, brown hair indicated that he’d been right about who their visitor was. And despite expecting her to stop by, Nezumi was still struck with the urge to walk away and leave the door unanswered. He’d never liked people in the space where he lived. Shion had ended up being an exception but even he had moments where he pressed Nezumi’s tolerance. Luckily, Shion had also seemed to pick up semi-reliably when Nezumi needed space and he would become scarce until Nezumi was over it and sought him out.

The only thing that really kept him from doing that – if nothing else, it would irritate the hell out of Inukashi and that was always worthwhile – was the knowledge that she wouldn’t be here if she didn’t have something important to pass on. Otherwise, she would just wait for him to be out and then would track him down. Sure, both he and Shion hadn’t gone out much these past two weeks but that didn’t alter Inukashi’s priorities. She figured if he missed out because she couldn’t run into him in the streets, that was on him.

As he unlocked the door, he called out to Shion, “You’ll want to take a few minutes.” Maybe Shion would be able to have pulled himself out of whatever he was doing well enough by the time Inukashi got inside that he would be ready to focus on something completely different than what he’d been doing.

As expected, Inukashi was scowling up at him with her arms crossed as he opened the door wide and stood to the side with an exaggerated wave beckoning her into the apartment. She hated when he overacted, which made it ridiculously easy to get on her nerves.

She walked past him with a roll of her eyes, then paused to look around the entryway and hall of the apartment.

“You’re gonna get soft livin’ in a place like this, Nezumi,” she declared.

“You’ve met Shion and you really think living with him is going to make me relax more? A puppy has more survival and fighting instincts than he does,” Nezumi shot back with a smirk.

Inukashi turned around and gave him a flat look. “Knowing Shion is why I’m so sure you’ve gone soft. You were already folding when you introduced us. And you know just like I do that if someone isn’t taking notes from you, the learning is going the other way. So if he hasn’t toughened up, then you’ve gotten weak.”

Nezumi couldn’t help but scowl back, feeling like Inukashi was pushing this too far already. They had always grated on each other but this didn’t feel like the same thing. “Yeah, go ahead and think that. Just don’t come bitching to me when you get your ass handed to you for underestimating either one of us.” He stepped closer to Inukashi and gave her the coldest look he could manage and then had to hold in his satisfaction as she raised her guard in obvious response to feeling threatened. “And if I think you’re a danger to him, you’ll learn the hard way what I’m willing to do. I figured you of anyone out here would know better than to do something that stupid. Or did I not hear you saying that if you have someone you want to see protected, you need to be the one to keep them safe?” She’d thrown that at him just after he’d met Shion again and he’d been struggling to come to terms with wanting to see him again, making him short-tempered and they’d gotten into a fight that had somehow ended up with Inukashi blurting that out. He didn’t remember much else of what was said but that had stuck with him irritatingly well.

Mostly because he’d realized that he believed in that as well but his past had done so much to his ability to care for others for fear of losing them. He’d become so afraid that he’d never succeed in protecting someone he cared about.

Shion nearly dying shortly after hadn’t helped that but by then he’d also realized that he couldn’t just stop seeing Shion. He’d already started to fall even if he hadn’t known it yet.

Inukashi was recovering what passed for composure for her and was glaring up at him. “You say that but when was the last time you secured this building you live in?”

Nezumi frowned. “The building isn’t my problem.”

“Then the Oni two floors down isn’t something you should worry about?”

There was a rush of an urge to push past Inukashi and get within sight of Shion but he pushed it down, though that was made easier because he could hear Shion moving in the living room and identify the sounds of him shuffling books around. And he was a Qilin, a naturally defensive and protective disposition that just _had_ to mean there would be something in their affinity connection that would tell him when something was wrong on Shion’s end. He just couldn’t test that without a threat to Shion. At least, an external threat since apparently ones caused by Shion’s own cores didn’t count.

“If you asked Shion, he’d let you know exactly how many Oni there are out there walking past you on the street at any given moment. That there happens to be one in the building where easily over a hundred people live isn’t too far out there.”

“Then what about Oni with ties to the one you’re looking for and who recently really started looking for you?”

“Depends on the source and the ties. If it’s anything less than a noose, you’re wasting my time.”

“Well, I thought we at least agreed that while Rikiga is a disgusting pervert, his intel is at least good a majority of the time.” Nezumi admitted to himself that he’d sort of been hoping that Rikiga wasn’t the source on this so he could work towards dismissing it. But ignoring anything Rikiga decided to divulge meant you were willing to deal with the consequences. “And this Oni has been involved with the one you’ve been stalking every time he’s come to the city.”

“Involved how?”

Inukashi gave him a shrug as she turned away and went back to looking around as she walked further into the apartment. “People tend to not go around wearing signs announcing what their business is.”

Nezumi followed a few steps behind, scoffing. “And here I thought you were who people went to when it came to that exact problem. And so far you haven’t given me anything worth the trip.”

Inukashi stepped past where the hall opened up to the kitchen on the left and the living room on the right. Shion had moved away from the couch and was standing in the kitchen, leaning against the counter closest to the hall, obviously listening. Inukashi looked toward Shion and looked him over, taking stock of any differences from the last time she’d seen him. And, honestly, Nezumi was curious what she saw. That was probably one downside to being so close to Shion all the time: the things that had gradually changed over the past six months had likely been mostly overlooked by Nezumi. People tended to miss the little things when they were right there as it changed.

“Hi Inukashi. It’s been a while since I last saw you. How are you doing?” Shion asked, unsurprisingly polite and conversational.

Inukashi stared at him for a few more seconds, like she hadn’t expected that and then looked amused. “Oh, I’m fine. How about you? Take down any Oni bases of operation lately?”

“If I had, wouldn’t you know?” Nezumi believed for at least a second that Shion was being sarcastic, but then he caught the hint of confusion in Shion’s expression that conveyed he was serious. Considering he’d spent all day with his nose in a bunch of textbooks, it wasn’t surprising that he wasn’t on top of things now that he was dealing with someone.

Inukashi seemed to miss that he was serious, though. “Damn straight I would.” Nezumi rolled his eyes as he walked past her and toward Shion, stepping to the other side of his partner and leaning his hip against the counter so he was facing Inukashi and his front was lined up with Shion’s side. He was close enough that he could grab Shion and move him or have him covered with a barrier easily.

He’d come to terms with answering the urge to have Shion in a position he could easily defend him from. And that wasn’t always standing between Shion and the threat since there was a lot of times that he needed to watch Shion just as much as the threat. Shion could be too unpredictable.

“The Oni in the building, do you know which exact apartment he is in?” Shion asked, bringing them straight to the point. His directness wasn’t too surprising with the knowledge that an Oni had been looking for them. Nezumi recognized Shion’s body language from the few times he’d seen him actually working as a Deva on assignment.

“Room 408.”

“And do you have any information regarding his disposition?”

Inukashi paused for a second and Nezumi couldn’t tell if she was thinking over her answer or taken aback by Shion. “No, I don’t know what he’s got. I’m sure you know that’s usually the last thing people figure out unless they’re making a name for themselves with a certain ability.”

Like a Projector that could convince pretty much anyone they were burning alive and using that to kill them. It wasn’t one of the more common nightmares Shion suffered, but there were still those nights that his subconscious liked to dig up that his brain remembered the sensation of burning even if it hadn’t really happened. A few of those nights had Shion actually running to the toilet to vomit because of whatever he dreamed.

“If he’s been in the area long enough, that usually increases the chance that at least a few people have seen something to indicate disposition.”

“And you don’t know anything about him?” Inukashi shot back, seeming like she was now defending her reputation.

“If I knew anything about him, I could say whether I do or not. But I don’t have his description or any details of what he’s done to be classified as an Oni. How else am I supposed to identify him without identifiers?”

“Who says I don’t have a description for you?” Inukashi reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a folded piece of paper and stepped closer to hand it over to Shion. He took it and opened it, angling it so Nezumi could see.

It was a man’s photo, taken candidly from across a street. And the man pictured was older, probably in his early to mid-forties. There wasn’t much notable about his features. He looked pretty much like any middle-aged office worker that would be lost in the crowd as soon as you looked away.

Sort of like Nezumi had thought Shion would if his hair and eyes hadn’t been made so unique by the Plague’s attack on him. Because while Nezumi had been drawn to Shion, that wouldn’t be everyone’s impression.

A quick glance to Shion showed that he was deep in thought and Nezumi wondered if the man in the picture wasn’t as unfamiliar to his partner.

“This isn’t an Oni,” Shion suddenly declared and Nezumi couldn’t help but smirk at the furious look that crossed Inukashi’s face in response.

“Don’t you try pulling that shit,” she exclaimed as she took a step toward Shion. Nezumi instinctively reached out with his right arm, slinging it around Shion’s waist. He’d been about to pull him away when his brain caught up with his instincts and he relaxed enough that he didn’t actually move Shion, even if he left his hand on Shion’s far hip. Inukashi shot him a glance and didn’t get closer, though. “This guy is an Oni.”

Shion looked over to Nezumi briefly, seeming momentarily confused as the reaction he’d gotten. He then turned back to Inukashi, speaking hesitantly, like he didn’t want to make her angrier. “He’s been seen in the company of Oni for a long time, yes. But he isn’t an Oni. He isn’t a user.”

There’d been a pause there at the end where Nezumi knew Shion well enough to know that he’d changed what he was going to say at the last minute. He’d been about to say something besides the guy not being a user.

Inukashi didn’t seem to catch it. “That’s bullshit. Why would he be working with Oni if he wasn’t one?”

“The most dangerous Oni know that not all they can benefit from comes from users. This man has been providing information for nearly twenty years, able to slip under the radar _because_ he’s only human. Yes, you can be arrested for conspiring with Oni that results in harm to others, but that’s the responsibility of the police to enforce.”

That’s what Shion had omitted: the guy was working both sides and it was just a matter of who he was more loyal to. He’d wait to ask Shion about it until Inukashi was gone. If the guy leaned closer to the Devas, he would be their in to the Oni.

Inukashi, at least, seemed to not really know how to take this information. She prided herself on being the one with the valuable intel, on knowing what others didn’t. And she didn’t have the highest opinion of Shion because she saw him as weak with his comfortable upbringing so for him to pull one over on her to this level was likely the biggest insult he could have thrown her way.

Shion seemed to pick up on that and his cheeks flushed a bit. “It doesn’t mean he’s less of a concern, just that he isn’t the same manner of threat as he would be if he was an Oni. People who are willing to help Oni can be even more dangerous to a Deva or U.E.A. agent since they aren’t allowed to take action against them. And that isn’t secret: everyone knows that using damaging or offensive abilities against people without cores is the fastest way to be classified as an Oni. It’s a gap in the system that has been exploited before. The line between regular humans and users isn’t as clear anymore, not as exclusive and it is something that is being looked into for changing but is being slowed down by human law enforcement as they are figuring out what agencies should be responsible for that, whether it should be a local issue or a federal one.”

Well, Inukashi wasn’t pissed anymore but she was getting irritated for Shion rambling on. Nezumi had started smirking about halfway through as he didn’t bother trying to deter his partner once he got going. After all, it was usually amusing when Shion got going on a topic with someone besides Nezumi, especially if they didn’t know him as well and so didn’t know that if they wanted a short version, they had to interrupt him. And while interrupting wasn’t a problem for Inukashi, she simply wasn’t used to being talked to at length so she just seemed to have gotten caught up in the rush of Shion’s words and then started getting irritated when he still hadn’t stopped.

And Shion had spent most of the day in “research mode” and that always made him more prone to long-winded answers. It was just how his mind worked.

When Shion paused, Inukashi cut in with a curt, “Well that’s as fascinating as a bullet in the ass.” Shion grimaced at the analogy and waited for Inukashi to continue but Nezumi felt like getting on her nerves a bit more and spoke up.

“Wait, don’t tell me you’ve been shot in the ass,” he said even as he knew with absolute certainty that Shion hadn’t been shot, in the ass or elsewhere. Aside from having seen Shion naked plenty of times and not seeing any scarring like a bullet would cause, he knew it would have come up in conversation between them by now.

And Shion’s confused look toward him revealed he’d been right even before Shion spoke. “No, of course I haven’t been shot.” He seemed to catch on to Nezumi’s smirk by then and he let out a sigh before crossing his arms, the position crooked as he had to shift his arms around Nezumi’s arm still extended across his front at his waist.

And Inukashi seemed to figure out that he’d asked to piss her off because she stepped forward and snatched the picture back from Shion, crumpling it up before sliding it back into her pocket carelessly. “Well, I only came here to warn you guys about the Oni who apparently isn’t an Oni in the building. It’s about the only activity that’s been picked up concerning them moving in on you so whatever you’re doing to keep off the streets is working for now. So don’t do anything stupid and ruin all that.”

“Thank you, Inukashi. The warning isn’t wasted,” Shion replied, sounding genuine. And he likely had taken what she’d said as concern for them when it was more like her protecting her business with Nezumi. After all, if this all panned out and he settled everything with this Oni because of information he got from Inukashi, he’d owe her a pretty good sum as per their agreement.

Then again, she might have as much of a soft spot for Shion as some of her dogs did. He had a talent for getting in under people’s defenses in a way they didn’t notice until one day they happened to realize they didn’t want him to get hurt.

Inukashi turned on her heels and headed towards the door, Nezumi listening to her steps echo in the small hall and then he made sure he heard her go out the door and walk down the hall away from the apartment, Shion remaining still and quiet so he could follow the sound.

When he was sure she really had left, he moved his hand from Shion’s hip, his hand following the line of Shion’s pants across his waist just for the touch before he let go and asked, “So, this guy work more for the Devas or the Oni?”

“As far as I’m aware, he has only given Oni as little as necessary to remain trustworthy. And he’s managed to give the Devas and the U.E.A. information that allows them to come up with a strategy to apprehend multiple Oni without implicating himself. I believe he was unreliable until an Oni double-crossed him and after that his allegiance became more genuine towards the Devas.”

“Imagine that: criminals not putting an expendable asset first,” Nezumi remarked.

Shion continued undeterred. “While many Devas and agents within the nearby divisions knew about him, he only spoke with one representative from either. I’ve never met him even as I had used information given by him to succeed with many of my assignments.”

“And you don’t believe it’s coincidence that he’s in the same building we live in right now,” Nezumi stated.

“Not with him in room 408. If he has information, he always stays the same room numbers. If he has something for the Oni, he goes to a hotel that has enough floors to have a room 1408. If it’s for one of the law enforcement agencies, it’s 408 so he can use a hotel or apartment complex. Apparently, it’s a reference to a book he likes.”

Nezumi gave a short laugh at Shion not knowing the story. “Stephen King,” he clarified at Shion’s confused look. “I gotta crack down harder on getting your nose out of textbooks. Your culture is sorely lacking. 1408 is an evil hotel room.”

“I see. I suppose that’s appropriate.” He hesitated for a few seconds, giving Nezumi a cautious look that mostly tipped him off as to what Shion was going to ask. “You’re going to let me talk to him, right?”

Nezumi allowed the rush of pride that he’d called it, leaning forward to press a quick kiss to Shion’s temple as he straightened up his posture. “Of course we’re going to go talk to him. Unless you’ve got some brilliant ideas for tracking down the Oni that you’ve been keeping from me.”

Shion followed him as he headed toward the door. “No, I haven’t really been thinking about that. I thought it might be best to leave decisions concerning the Oni to you since he is the one you’ve been trying to track down for many years now.”

“Of course that’s the approach you took to it,” Nezumi said, still amused. Shion’s wording revealed that he had been thinking about it but wasn’t going to reveal any conclusions he’d come to unless Nezumi asked first. Nezumi slipped on his shoes and paused to consider the decision for a second while Shion got his own shoes on before reaching for his Qilin cloak, twisting it around his shoulders to hang more like a thick scarf around his neck and upper torso. It took a little bit more work to get it into the most protective position over him but it got him less attention than when he wore it draped down like the cloak it was.

Shion watched him like he wanted to say something but remained quiet.

Nezumi was about to open the door when he paused and looked back toward Shion. He was dressed casually in a pair of jeans and one of Nezumi’s sweaters hanging loosely off of him, the sleeves pushed up to his elbows so they didn’t hang over his hands as he’d been working. Deciding that he was done being passive about this, Nezumi grabbed one of the beanies he’d gotten somewhere that he used in the winter. He pulled it onto Shion’s head, playfully pulling it low over Shion’s eyes so the initial reaction would be about that.

Shion reached up to grab the line of the beanie as he exclaimed, “Nezumi, what are you doing?” He pulled it back up above his eyes and looked up at Nezumi as he stepped in close and leaned down to give Shion a brief kiss on the lips to hold his attention.

“You turn heads now, Shion. I know you don’t want to think that you do but that’s how it is. We need to start cutting back on how many people notice someone matching your description. So, you don’t go out anymore without your hair and eyes at least covered. If you can get some sunglasses that come down low enough to at least partially conceal the scar, that’s even better. And high collared shirts or a jacket on to cover the scarring around your neck, too.”

Shion frowned at the end. “The hair and eyes I understand. But don’t you think worrying about the scarring is a little extreme?”

“No, not with how unique it is. And I’d rather have cops suspecting you of being up to something than Oni knowing it’s you to follow.”

Shion didn’t look pleased but he also didn’t argue anymore so Nezumi gave him one more kiss and then opened the door to lead them into the hall, Shion closing and locking the door behind them and then jogging to catch up and stayed behind Nezumi as they headed toward the elevator and took it down to the fourth floor.

Just before the door opened, Nezumi said in a low voice, “I don’t care that this guy has a good history with the Devas. You stay behind me unless I change where you’re positioned. And that needs to become something automatic for you, being in a position I can easily defend you from.”

Shion paused before giving him a quiet, “Okay.” He then felt Shion’s hand brush against his back briefly, like he was soothing him by letting him know he was already in a place Nezumi could protect him. And damned if Nezumi didn’t feel a little tension release from his shoulders at the touch.

The elevator doors opened and they stepped off, turning to the right and heading toward room 408. Nezumi held out his hand once he reached the door, indicating for Shion to not remain right behind him and within sight from the peephole, wanting to see how the man responded to it only being Nezumi and then he would test him seeing Shion if he didn’t jump to seeming like he should be someone to worry about.

He knocked twice and almost expected Shion to ask him if he actually wanted the guy to know they were there. And, if he were being honest, he kind of didn’t want the door to open. He accepted that he had to settle things with the Oni he was after so he could truly move on with his life with Shion, but he could confidently say that nothing would make him be able to accept Shion getting caught up in that fight.

He listened to soft footsteps approach the door from inside, muffled by carpet and Nezumi wondered if the guy had a deal with the landlord through the Devas to put the carpet in since none of the apartments had it as far as Nezumi knew.

There was a short pause once the man reached the door where he would be looking through the peephole and Nezumi wondered if he would recognize him immediately.

He didn’t have to wonder long as the door opened, the chain still connected so it was only enough for Nezumi to get a glimpse of part of the man’s face.

“Can I help you?” he asked, Nezumi figuring that he wouldn’t reveal that he knew Nezumi without a good reason. And while to anyone who just happened to stop by it seemed like he was just cautious of a stranger at his door, Nezumi picked up on how his hands and body were positioned to need to reinforce the door beyond what the chain and any other lock could do. He was ready for a fight but not looking for one, Nezumi concluded. That was good enough to at least see the conversation out.

Nezumi reached over and took hold of Shion’s wrist, pulling him over so he could be seen. He kept his hand on Shion, ready to maneuver him again if he was wrong about his assessment of the guy.

But the guy just looked shocked and didn’t seem to know what to do with Shion being at his door. He actually pulled on the door, Nezumi catching the chain pulling taut, before he seemed to recall that he couldn’t open the door further as it was. He shook his head slightly and then the door closed and the rattling of the chain being unsecured sounded. The door opened again, this time swinging wide and the man stood to the side and welcomed the two inside.

Shion looked over to Nezumi, who hesitated just long enough to take another look around what he could see of the apartment as well as the man’s body language to determine that he was being genuine in posing no threat to them. So Nezumi tugged slightly on Shion’s arm to have him walk in first, deciding that he would be more effective right now if he could see Shion. Once they were inside, he’d make sure he was between them like he’d instructed Shion.

Once they were inside, the man closed the door and slid the chain back into place and then turned to face the two teens.

“Shion Himura?” he asked, sounding relieved. “I thought it would take longer for you to find out I was here. You’re as impressive as I was expecting.”

Nezumi looked over his shoulder to Shion, seeing mostly confusion on his face.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t actually know your name. I only know about you because of you working as an informant for the Devas,” Shion said and Nezumi wondered if he should have opened with that.

But the man shook his head again and gave an embarrassed chuckle. “Right, sorry. I thought you would have at least heard my name in your time with the Devas. I’m Yoming.”

“How did you know that I was a Deva?” Shion asked, sounding hesitant and Nezumi understood why. Devas didn’t actually make much of a habit of announcing they were Devas as a matter of safety. If the wrong person overheard, it could mean their lives and the lives of their family and friends being in danger. And even though Shion wasn’t a Deva anymore, he didn’t tell anyone he didn’t need to about having been one.

Yoming was obviously making sure his facial expression remained passive. Though with the way he was avoiding looking at Nezumi, that could likely be attributed to him not wanting to make the one of them obviously on guard to think there was any reason to think he was a threat.

“I’ve known for a while though it was mostly an educated guess. I’ve been collaborating with the Devas for a long time. Karan Himura was my contact with the Devas for a few years, up until she left the organization. Then, when I heard the rumors about a thirteen-year-old becoming a Deva, I did the math and a little digging on a hunch and figured that it had to be the child of Karan who was the youngest Deva in history. They wouldn’t have let just anyone in at that age, no matter their abilities without a strong character reference.”

“I see,” Shion replied and Nezumi heard the hint of disappointment in his voice. Nezumi knew accomplishing things on his own was important to Shion, that he hated relying on anyone else and this obviously came close enough even if Yoming didn’t know the exact details of Shion’s history with the Devas. “You are aware that my mother wasn’t allowed to tell me about her assignments while a Deva, right?”

“And I bet she didn’t actually want you to become one. She was such a good person, so soft and unthreatening that I honestly didn’t believe she was a Deva when I was first introduced to her.”

Nezumi glanced over his shoulder toward Shion and wondered if Yoming was seeing something in his partner that he couldn’t. Because those traits that he’d mentioned were exactly what Shion had inherited from his mother. And even after all he’d been through, they still applied. At least Nezumi had seen in Karan the potential for her to be a threat when the right buttons were pushed. He’d seen hints of her intensity, of the danger she was capable of posing to someone who crossed her. Or, to be accurate, endangered her son because that is what it took.

But Shion was apparently focusing on other parts of what Yoming had said as he asked, “Is she why you became more loyal to the Devas even when the Oni could potentially offer you more?”

Yoming nodded, his face showing a hint of embarrassment. “Yeah. And it’s why I’ve been dragging my feet as much as I can on getting anything back to the Oni concerning the two of you. I couldn’t do anything that would put her only son at risk. But they’re going to start doubting me if I take too much longer so I started showing my face a little more obviously and hoped it would get back to you that I had something for you.”

“And what do you have?” Nezumi asked, hoping the answer was what it seemed like the guy was setting up.

Yoming looked to Nezumi, then back to Nezumi, like he was considering not saying anything now that Nezumi had jumped back into the conversation. But eventually he answered, “I have the location of the Oni targeting both of you and enough of his plans for you to get the jump on him.”

“Well that’s a relief. Because that’s the only thing you could have said to make me think this was worthwhile,” Nezumi replied with a smirk. Yoming gave him a startled and confused look, then again looked to Shion. But when Shion’s expression didn’t indicate that he disagreed with Nezumi, the man sighed, sounding disappointed.

Nezumi had to inch to the side as Shion moved like he was going to approach Yoming, reminding his partner that he wasn’t going to let him step out like that. “I don’t know what you thought of me or my mom. But I don’t have the comfort of taking risks that don’t yield results. I can only accept what moves me forward measurably and if you can’t offer me that, I will leave.”

There was pain in his tone that Nezumi hoped was something Yoming wouldn’t be able to pick up on.

Whether he did or not, he seemed to accept it and his posture straightened up like he’d come to terms with something before speaking and Nezumi settled in for the long haul of a conversation.


	9. Regen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to try...

When they were finished speaking with Yoming, Nezumi had to admit that he wasn’t expecting Shion to go right back to the couch and get right back into going through those textbooks. He’d thought that they might at least talk about the Oni now that they had more than a general idea of his goals including Nezumi and Shion. But the smaller teen had barely slowed down to take off his shoes and the beanie before walking to the couch and sitting back in the same spot he’d been in before Inukashi had shown up.

Nezumi was honestly a little frustrated by Shion becoming so hyper-focused on whatever he was doing.

He realized that at about the same time he’d taken the open book out of Shion’s hands and set it on the floor beside him as he kneeled in front of Shion, looking up at him intently even as Shion seemed confused by this.

“Nezumi?” Shion asked, definitely confused.

Nezumi at least allowed the slight comfort that Shion at least didn’t sound nervous towards him. Shion showing any sort of fear towards him would be a huge step backwards for them and he was really hoping to avoid that even as he wasn’t consciously trying to curb the aspects of his personality that would usually get people to be afraid of him.

”You’re just sticking your nose back in a book?” Nezumi asked.

“I thought we were both decided in that solving the problem with my mental deterioration came first, that me trying to confront an Oni while my mind wasn’t at full functionality was too dangerous.”

Shion wasn’t wrong but they hadn’t had a name and location before. It may not be anything as dramatic as a change to everything about their situation but Nezumi thought it shouldn’t just be dismissed for the moment.

“And I thought you were figuring it out, getting your cores to relax and that meant no more deterioration,” he decided to take the approach that focused more on Shion’s status.

“Yes, though I don’t have the equipment to accurately evaluate, as far as I can tell, my brain function has remained consistent for the past two days.”

Nezumi reached to the side and tapped one of the books to Shion’s side. “Then what’s this?”

“My brain function isn’t wasting anymore but there is already damage done. But from what I know of neurobiology and cores, the damage doesn’t have to be permanent. It might be possible for the areas of my brain that have been damaged to be repaired and all functions restored to what they were before. And with the neural pathways of my commands to my cores nearly to the point of being automatic, further damage shouldn’t be a concern.”

Nezumi now remembered reading in Shion’s log about his thoughts of being able to have a Regen try and fix the brain damage. He’d pretty much shoved it way to the side since it hadn’t meant much for looking after Shion. But now it was very much something that had worked its way to the forefront with Shion’s progress over the past two weeks.

“Why are you reading up on it? Why not just go talk to a few Regens about if it’s something they can do?”

“Because I am not close to any Regens. And having a Regen attempt the repair will mean them finding out about my four cores. Regens are aware of the presence of cores in the body when they check a patient for injury. So, I’ve decided that I need to attempt the repair myself using my Mirror core. But, just like any Regen, I need to know how everything is supposed to look and work in order to accelerate the healing correctly or I could cause more damage with what I do, especially working in the brain.” Shion gave Nezumi a rueful smile then. “Besides, I might as well just go in for brain surgery since there are more brain surgeons than Regens qualified to proficiently work on the brain. Most of them restrict their knowledge to countering traumatic brain injuries.”

It all made sense, which Nezumi had expected. As much as he teased Shion, he really did have a habit of working things out before he got too invested. And he’d probably figured this out as long ago as the day they’d talked to Safu and only now felt like he should start working towards that end. And he would have told Nezumi what he was planning when he was ready to move forward with it, as in when he was ready to go find himself a Regen to Mirror because that’s what Nezumi would be a part of. It wasn’t like Nezumi knowing anything about accelerating healing to the brain would be of any use to Shion.

“How close are you? I mean, it isn’t like it would be the first time you’ve used the abilities of a Regen.” When Shion’s Mirror core first formed, it Mirrored a Regen to keep Nezumi alive when he’d been shot, the core reacting to Shion’s panic of not losing Nezumi.

Shion’s eyes lowered slightly and there was the hint of pain that usually accompanied him remembering Nezumi getting wounded as he had. “What I did with you was barely passable and trained Regens had to fix a lot of damage that I missed.”

“I didn’t bleed to death, did I?” Nezumi pointed out. “Because, as I recall, that was what would have likely happened if you hadn’t gotten that Mirror core then.”

Shion’s hands clenched in his lap. “Yes, you would have likely bled out by the time emergency services arrived with how you’d been fighting while injured like that.”

“You know basic biology and human anatomy and you’ve got years of being best friends with someone studying neurobiology going for you. And you’ve at least stopped the bleeding – so to speak – on your own problem so you shouldn’t be losing what you’re reading, right?” Nezumi waited for Shion to give a nod. “So what’s your estimate?”

Shion watched him for a few seconds, checking to see if he really wanted an answer to that, then seeing that Nezumi was serious, he thought it over for a few more seconds. “A few days and an MRI. I’ll need to see exactly where the damage is so I can recognize what I feel when I run a Regen diagnostic since I won’t have the opportunity to train that aspect of the disposition.”

“Well, we got eight days to deal with the Oni before he makes a move for us. You think that’s enough time?”

Shion gave him a brief nod. “Yes, I think that’s enough. I’m not starting completely from scratch on my knowledge of neurobiology, after all.” Shion met Nezumi’s gaze, looking thoughtful for a moment. “What _are_ we going to do about Ushikawa?”

Morio Ushikawa. The name of the Oni who had orchestrated the attack on Nezumi’s hometown, resulting in the death of the entire population except Nezumi himself. And then when Nezumi had tracked him down when he was thirteen, the man who had got the jump on him again and set him up to be suspected of being an Oni and was only released quickly because a certain Deva applicant who could identify Oni based on the discharge of their cores had intervened on his behalf. He hadn’t come back to the city since then, being cautious of another confrontation. But he’d heard about what had happened between Nezumi and Shion and other Oni in the area six months back and his curiosity was getting the better of him.

He wouldn’t leave Nezumi’s death to chance again and there was no telling what he would do when he learned about Shion’s secret. And Yoming hadn’t been able to say with certainty the nature of Ushikawa’s interest in Shion, whether he had any connection with the Oni that was gathering them together or if he would just kill Shion along with Nezumi. Or he may change his mind about what his options were once he realized the rarity that was Shion as a user.

The only certainty they had to work from was that he was finishing business in a week and would be here afterwards. And that was also when he’d be meeting with Yoming so the informant could relay what he’d learned about Shion and Nezumi’s habits and where they went so the Oni would be able to have his opportunity. There were two days between when he returned to the city and when he met with Yoming and they’d learned what hotel he was staying at. Those two days were meant to be a time for him to rest between jobs and he would be spending a majority of his time in that hotel room.

It was more than enough information for Nezumi and Shion to work from. Hell, the encounter they’d had with the Oni six months ago had been accomplished with much less than that.

“We could, of course, just report the information to the Devas. With it coming from me, it would be handled appropriately,” Shion reasoned and Nezumi was surprised that he actually considered taking that suggestion for just a moment. He figured that if Shion wasn’t in his current state, he probably would have dismissed it immediately.

“Would they? It’s an Oni that isn’t on their radar and you’re always telling me how short-handed the organization is. We can handle this, especially if you get your head fixed up.” The corner of Shion’s mouth ticked up briefly in a show of amusement. “You stay focused here and I’ll get to work checking out the hotel. Yoming said the hotel knows he’s an Oni and makes sure all nearby rooms are either empty or used for his cohorts and security detail.”

“An Oni with money always presents a different threat than one without,” Shion mused. “I’ve dealt with people who refuse to report Oni activity not out of fear but for the want to not lose the money they’re paid for their silence.”

“Hey, the money doesn’t care who spends it,” Nezumi gave Shion a smirk as he stood, then leaned down and cupped the back of Shion’s head before pressing a brief kiss to Shion’s forehead. “I mean it, Shion. Keep focused on this and let me worry about Ushikawa until you’re ready to face him.”

Shion nodded before he leaned down while remaining seated on the couch to grab his textbook from off the floor and began flipping through it to find the page he was on. “Oh, if you can get a current floor plan and layout of furniture for the rooms for me to look at, that should be enough. If nothing else, many hotels offer that on their websites.”

Nezumi shook his head with a slight smile at Shion’s request, completely aware that it was the truth: all Shion needed was a visual and he’d remember the layout better than Nezumi could ever hope to memorize it.

He was heading back to where he’d set his own book aside and was ready to settle back into silence when he realized that Shion was moving all the books he’d had spread out, closing most of them and stacking them mostly to the cushion to his right. When he realized that Nezumi was watching him, his cheeks flushed slightly and his eyes dropped as he asked, “Can you sit here? With me?”

Nezumi got the urge to tease Shion’s embarrassment at just asking him to sit with him when they had sex regularly but he held back. Instead, he just returned to the couch. He paused and gave the quick instruction for Shion to move forward and then waited for Shion to slide forward and then he sat with his back facing the armrest to lean against it and extended his right leg out behind Shion’s back, bent at the knee so Shion could lean back against it and not be at an awkward angle. He curled his other leg alongside Shion to tuck his foot under his other leg, his knee resting on Shion’s thigh.

Shion waited until he’d stopped shifting and then relaxed, leaning against Nezumi’s leg as he opened his book back up and propped up one side of it on Nezumi’s knee as he rested his arm along the length of Nezumi’s shin.

Just sitting together like this, doing nothing but touching each other while they did their own thing didn’t happen often but Nezumi decided they needed to change that. Shion liked being in contact with Nezumi more than he let on, simply accepting what he got when he got it, and Nezumi had always been more tactile with Shion than he’d ever been with anyone else. He liked touching Shion and he finally felt like he wasn’t needing to fight years of not letting himself get close to anyone to comfortably do so.

It would do their affinity some good for them to feel closer to each other and any progress with their connection was worthwhile.

* * *

Five days after meeting with Yoming and Nezumi was sitting on the edge of the bed as he watched Shion rummaging through their closet, waiting for his partner to tell him what he was looking for.

Shion had gone in for the MRI the day after they’d spoken to Yoming, meeting with a doctor that he’d known and worked with often when he’d been a Deva so the doctor had just been used to not asking questions. And Shion had looked at the images carefully for about a minute straight before thanking the man and closing out the appointment. When Nezumi had asked him what he thought about the results, Shion had thought it over for a few seconds and then replied with, “I thought there would be more spots. It feels like there should be more.”

Nezumi had hesitated before asking, “Does that mean the spots where the damage is…”

Shion cut in before he could finish, “…were the most active areas of my brain. It wouldn’t have been much longer for me to have required medical attention. Those scans looked similar to what I’ve seen of people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. The end result would have been the same, except on an accelerated path as my cores wouldn’t have stopped doing damage, perhaps would have gotten worse as the threat to my health and failing control on my part would have made them more active, and no external treatment would have been enough to stop it.”

Nezumi hands had clenched in his pockets at the confirmation that he had come so close to Shion dying. He tried not to dwell on it since they’d already done what they needed to avoid it but that didn’t stop the stab of fear at how close he’d come to that loss.

Shion had returned to his studies, practically disappearing into them while Nezumi had done his own part of what they’d agreed on and had scouted the hotel, finding the floor plans and room layout that Shion would need. He’d also flirted with a few of the workers to get some information on Ushikawa’s habits while he stayed there, able to get himself some details on differences of how the man acted depending on what he was in town for. After all, they didn’t all know Ushikawa was an Oni and Nezumi wasn’t law enforcement so they had no reason to watch what they said with him. And he knew how to work people when he wanted, as long as they weren’t Shion since his tactics had never worked on Shion.

He was sure they had all they needed to win against the Oni when they faced him. Between their dispositions, they had everything they needed to counter anything the guy had at his disposal to throw at them.

“Nezumi, do you remember the grey messenger bag that I was using when we first moved here that I would take with me when I went to the bakery or to meet with Safu?” Shion asked, still rummaging around in the closet.

“Yeah,” Nezumi answered easily. He hadn’t seen Shion use it in a few months once he’d gotten a backpack that he preferred using as it carried more comfortably.

“Do you remember where I put it?”

Shion sounded frustrated and Nezumi was surprised. After all, this was about as obvious as it got to prove that there was still brain damage with Shion not remembering a detail as simple as where he left something.

Hopefully, they were on the home stretch for it not being an issue anymore.

“Yeah, it’s in your office buried by a mountain of your journals.”

He saw Shion tense before his arms dropped and he headed out of the room without looking back to Nezumi, likely embarrassed. A minute or so later and he walked back into the bedroom with the bag in his hands, looking through the smaller pockets on the front. He walked over to the bed and sat down next to Nezumi before reaching in and pulling out a small envelope and dropped the bag to the floor before he went still, just looking at the envelope.

“Shion?” Nezumi asked, feeling concerned. He wasn’t sure what was in the envelope but it seemed to bother Shion and there was so little that did that Nezumi couldn’t help his own reaction to the unexpected emotions from his partner.

Red eyes looked over to Nezumi, which was a relief as it meant he wasn’t being shut out. Shion let out a short sigh then, ripping open the side of the envelope and he held it out towards Nezumi, who hesitated for a second before he held out his hand. Shion turned the envelope over so the opening faced Nezumi’s hand and a small object dropped into his palm that only took a second for Nezumi to recognize: it was the Deva ring, a silver band with an inscription of Shion’s identification number which could be run by any law enforcement and it would reveal that he was had left the Devas in good standing.

Nezumi looked up to Shion, observing him carefully. “I thought you were carrying this with you,” he said. He’d never seen Shion wear it but it was supposed to be insurance to keep with him.

“I stopped. I didn’t like the reminder of what I was forced to leave behind. It felt like admitting I’d failed as a Deva, the one goal I’d had ever since my Clairvoyant core formed.”

“And that’s different now?”

“No but I don’t have the luxury of not carrying it with me now. It’ll give us some cover against legal backlash from what we’re about to do. I may not be a Deva anymore but there are procedures even police need to follow. They are required to run my ID if I’m wearing this and they aren’t allowed to question me until the Devas contact them. And as my affinity partner, they won’t be allowed to question you either.”

Shion was preparing for the results of them going after the Oni even though they weren’t there yet. Unless there was something Nezumi was missing about what they were doing right now.

“You think you’ll need it today?” Nezumi asked instead, making sure he sounded nonchalant.

“It’s more that I’m trying to be prepared for any eventuality.”

“Fine, I’ll paraphrase: what’s on the agenda for today, Shion?” Nezumi said with a roll of the eyes.

Shion looked momentarily confused at the show of irritation, slight as it was. “I’m ready to attempt Mirroring a Regen to heal the brain damage.”

Nezumi probably could have guessed that on his own if he hadn’t been distracted by Shion’s unexpected focus on the Deva ring. “Of course you are. What’s that mean for how we’re going to do this?”

“I simply need to be within range of a Regen while they are tapped into the power of their core in order for the Mirror to be able to alter its discharge to match the other core.”

“What’s the range?”

“At my skill level, maybe two meters.”

“Right, because we wouldn’t want to be able to be far enough away to be subtle about it. You know, Regens don’t make a habit of having people hang out just outside of arm’s reach while they’re treating people.”

“I’m aware. However, many Regens early in their studies are allowed to work in the waiting room of emergency care to offer relief to people until their turn to see a doctor. They aren’t experienced enough to truly treat them but they can help with pain relief while getting experience in diagnosing what they feel through with how they scan patients.”

“So, we go door-to-door through emergency rooms looking for one of these floater Regens and then get close enough for you to Mirror them.” That really sounded like an awkward way to spend their day.

“We’ll also need to make sure we have a secure place there for me to attempt the healing. I’m not experienced with my Mirror core enough to keep it active for a long period of time once outside range. There is much that I know I’ll eventually be capable of with that disposition, but for now I simply haven’t used it enough to be able to take chances like I can with even my Wraith and Dispel cores.”

“You know, all things considered, it might be easier to throw you in front of a car and just let the emergency responders be the Regens you Mirror,” Nezumi muttered. He’d really been hoping that Shion would be attempting his little healing session in the privacy and safety of their apartment. There were just too many variables with this, including Shion running his core dry and passing out in a hospital and that would mean they wouldn’t be able to leave without seeing a doctor or a Regen, which was exactly what Shion was trying to avoid.

At least Nezumi caught the slight smile Shion gave to what he’d said. And when Shion reached over to take the ring back, he said in a low voice, “Technically, it would be easier to throw you in front of a car so they could work on you while I sat off to the side as is appropriate for a concerned partner after an accident.” Shion turned the ring around between his fingers a few times before he slid it onto the middle finger of his right hand. He looked back over to Nezumi and gave him a shrug. “Which finger it’s worn on is regulated. Anyone who knows about it will know that I’m a Chimera. And we don’t need to go searching through all the hospitals. It’s an official position the Regens-in-training have to track and so it’s marked on each hospital’s website whether or not they have Regens working the waiting room.”

Nezumi let out a deep sigh as Shion stood up, acknowledging that Shion had successfully led him on with that one, likely trying to calm himself down with the distraction. And Nezumi had to admit there were downsides to Shion knowing how much he could get away with when teasing him. Now he just had to come up with a way to get back at his partner for that one.

“Then I’m assuming you know exactly which one we’re going to?” he settled on asking.

“Yes. There’s one only a few train stops away that I haven’t been to before on official business for anyone to recognize me from and it should have a decent number of patients to provide us some cover. While intake doesn’t tend to come out and make sure everyone waiting has checked in, the more people there are there, the less attention we’ll risk gaining. Though I’ll only be able to wear a hat or beanie and can’t wear sunglasses or that will gain attention.”

Shion had accepted Nezumi putting his foot down on concealing his hair and eyes while in public. And while they hadn’t gone out much, they had still done so enough that Shion was working on it becoming a habit as well as learning how to handle those random instances where he felt like covering up like that made him feel like he was getting more attention.

And he wasn’t necessarily wrong but people thinking he was suspicious and someone targeting him because he had visibly unique features were very different things and he’d get used to it.

They headed towards the door, Nezumi stopping to grab his cloak and again twisting it closely around his neck as more of a scarf while Shion pulled a beanie on. And then he had to take it off and pull it on after pushing his bangs back and then tucked the long strands sticking out the bottom up underneath it.

“You really do need a haircut,” Nezumi teased as he unlocked and opened the door.

“I know. I just haven’t considered a haircut to be a very high priority,” Shion replied shortly and Nezumi smirked.

He didn’t mind Shion’s hair being a little longer but he knew that Shion didn’t want it longer. He’d said once that if it got too long, it was actually distracting. Between the tickle around Shion’s neck and ears from how soft and thin his hair was to the lighter color making Shion automatically think he was seeing something to do with core discharge, he had genuine difficulty concentrating.

It took them about half an hour to reach the hospital and Shion seemed to relax a little when they were able to see the waiting room and confirm that there were over a dozen people spread throughout the area. And one of them, a young man barely older than the two of them, was wearing scrubs with a nametag speaking to an older woman sitting next to a middle-aged woman. Nezumi glanced over to Shion and gave him a questioning look, receiving a nod in response.

As they moved to enter, Shion slowed down and hunched over as he stepped in closer to Nezumi, who draped an arm around his shoulders and moved like he was guiding the shorter teen. He put on a concerned expression, as he met the gaze of one of the receptionists and then nodded towards the seats. She gave him a kind smile of understanding that he was going to get his partner to a seat first.

Nezumi looked around, finding an empty pair of seats tucked away out of sight of the reception desk, taking a quick glance around and noting where there were security cameras out of habit more than them worrying about keeping off camera. They weren't doing anything that should give anybody reason to pay attention to them.

Shion sat on one of the chairs, the one closer to the corner and Nezumi sat next to him, draping one arm over Shion’s shoulders while the other reached across his lap so his body was angled toward Shion and the other teen could use his closeness as a cover to him focusing in on the Regen, who was about halfway across the room from them.

Nezumi gave Shion a few seconds before he asked, “Is he close enough?”

“I don’t think so. But his core isn’t active right now so I can’t find out for sure. Just be patient: he’s required to get the symptoms verbally before he does anything with his core.”

“Let me know once you’ve got him Mirrored. We’re heading to the bathroom once you’ve got it.” The bathroom door wasn’t too far away to their right and Nezumi was watching for people coming in or out. He didn’t see any seats that looked like people had left belongings behind so he assumed there was no one inside at the moment. He figured he could get them in there subtly enough and lock them in for Shion to work.

Nezumi watched the Regen talk to the patients, speaking calmly and confidently so Nezumi wondered if the guy had been working here for a while now, that he’d gotten himself a good amount of experience. He watched passively as the man eventually reached out for the older woman’s hand and held it loosely in his own as his demeanor changed and Nezumi recognized the concentration from when he’d had Regens working on him in the past. What they did required so much concentration that it wasn’t surprising that they required about as much time and education as any doctor besides that they needed to actually know how the body worked in order to heal it.

“I’m too far away from here. But if we head toward the bathroom now, we should pass by close enough for me to Mirror him,” Shion said in a whisper.

Nezumi nodded slightly and moved to stand, shifting his hold on Shion to just holding his hand. Shion followed, the pair moving at a slow pace, like Shion wasn’t able to move faster, and Nezumi led the way to the door to the bathroom. They got a few glances from others in the room but the Regen was concentrating on his work so his attention remained completely on what he was doing.

Nezumi opened the door, led Shion inside and closed and locked the door behind them, and then did a quick check to make sure they were alone in there. Not hearing anyone moving around, he returned his focus to Shion.

“Did it work?” he asked.

Shion took in a deep breath and then opened his eyes and looked at Nezumi, his expression giving the answer before he said anything. “Yes, it worked. And it doesn’t hurt like it did when I first Mirrored a Regen’s abilities.”

Nezumi nodded, relieved that Shion wouldn’t have the distraction of pain making this even more difficult. He pulled Shion a few steps further into the bathroom, clearing the door by a little more before he turned them around so he was between the door and his partner. He then kneeled, pulling at Shion to follow, which he did. He figured it would be just a little bit easier if Shion didn’t need to think about staying on his feet once he started working.

Which was just about immediately once he was settled into his seated position, sitting on his legs as he tended to do when he was really focusing on working with his cores in a more meditative manner. And Nezumi could already feel the tingle of core discharge pulsing around Shion, the power not extending far though as it manifested and then turned back into Shion’s body as he directed it.

As a Qilin Nezumi had the most rudimentary awareness of core discharge. He was meant to be able to pick it up enough to know it was there but was able to do little more than feel its presence. He’d always thought it was a ridiculous limitation on his disposition since Qilins could manifest barriers specific to counter power from each core center but they had to rely on the other person revealing their disposition in order to even use that ability. They needed to really be familiar with dispositions, which Nezumi admittedly wasn’t, or they needed to have someone around who knew better than them.

Nezumi’s attention was focused back in on Shion when he suddenly lifted the hand Nezumi was still holding and pressed it against the side of his head like he was trying to soothe a headache. Nezumi wanted to ask him if he was alright but held back at the intense concentration on Shion’s face and the continued core discharge that was still giving every indication that it was working hard to follow his command. So Nezumi remained silent even as he reached up with his free hand to untwist the length of cloth wrapped around his neck and shoulders, letting hit hang loose over his shoulders and down his back. If he needed to, he could charge it with power that would work to cancel out Shion’s discharge as it was forming. It wouldn’t be as effective as Shion’s Dispel core but it was better than nothing.

He spent the next four minutes doubting if he should be intervening. The only reason he’d managed to hold back was that while Shion was intensely focused, he didn’t actually seem to be distressed in any way. Actually, it seemed like he was calm and so Nezumi managed to keep himself still.

And when Shion did move after those four minutes had passed, his body just let out all tension and he leaned forward. Nezumi slid closer and slid his shoulder under Shion’s forehead, letting him rest if he wanted while just answering his urge to be closer. Shion was breathing in deeply, Nezumi picking up on his timing for meditative breathing and waited for Shion to give any indication that he was really ready to be interrupted and this wasn’t just him needing to take a break before going back to whatever work he was doing in his own brain.

Eventually, Shion dropped his hand along with Nezumi’s down to his lap and took in one final deep breath before picking his head up off Nezumi’s shoulder and looked at him, his red eyes weary but it was obvious he was holding in excitement.

“Well?” Nezumi prompted, figuring Shion was partially in shock of something working out as planned if that’s what had happened.

“Of course I won’t know for sure until I complete a battery of assessments and have another MRI done, which will have to be done somewhere other than where I had the first one taken or they’ll be asking questions.” Nezumi was tempted to interrupt the rambling but decided that it was better for Shion to get it out of his system right now. “I believe it worked, though. I felt the damage, was drawn to the parts of my brain that were afflicted. And I truly understand why Regens need to be trained as much as they are. The instinct to just increase the healing process so the damage just isn’t there anymore is so strong. Without training, the healing Regens did would mostly be short-term fixes. They must direct their disposition’s influence of accelerating healing in order to keep people from ending up with permanent injury. Untrained, a Regen is no better than a band-aid.”

Now Shion was getting too far away from the topic of concern so Nezumi didn’t feel anymore need to let him work things through. “Shion, save that part of the assessment for when we’re home. Can you tell if there were any sort of complications that would keep us from leaving now?”

He didn’t even think Shion’s core was drained. He still felt strong discharge coming from Shion, bis awareness of Shion strong with them being close, in contact, and Nezumi focusing on the feel of their affinity.

“I don’t believe there were any complications and the amount of power it took was quite minimal. I’m not tired.”

“Good, then let’s head out before someone decides they noticed us come in here.”

Nezumi stood with Shion moving along with him, not showing any signs of fatigue or his awareness being inhibited so he hadn’t been lying about not exhausting his core.

As Nezumi headed to the door, Shion following behind upright and not moving like he needed to be in an emergency room, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was an indicator that they could actually rely on Shion’s Mirror core as an asset to them. Nezumi had dismissed it as a possibility with how much trouble Shion had been having with controlling it but this really did change everything. Not only was the damage potentially healed but his cores weren’t causing more so he wouldn’t be having more memory issues. And he’d learned to control the Regen disposition. He could potentially learn to do the same thing with any disposition as long as they knew someone with that disposition. And Shion would learn better control so he didn’t have to be so close or need isolation to keep focused.

Nezumi felt for the first time like he could be confident in Shion’s ability to defend himself.


	10. Activity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They have other things going on besides Shion's recovery...

After they’d returned to the apartment from the hospital, Shion had sequestered himself away into his office, Nezumi assumed to run the tests on himself he could, probably the same kinds of mental aptitude tests that he’d done to determine that he’d been suffering brain damage to begin with. It was hours before Nezumi saw him again.

When he did, Nezumi was laying down on the couch, trying to distract himself with a book with mild success. He was aware of Shion walking down the hall from his office and turning toward the kitchen, taking a quick drink of water before heading in Nezumi’s direction. Then Nezumi watched from his peripherals as Shion looked at him for a few still moments as he seemed to be deciding something and Nezumi barely kept from showing his amusement.

Shion worked through whatever was holding him up and stepped up right next to the couch before he stepped over Nezumi’s legs, which were extended out over a pillow at the other end of the couch and crossed at the ankles casually. Nezumi was ready to pull them up enough that his knees wouldn’t hyperextend if Shion just sat on him but Shion set his knee on the cushion between Nezumi’s thigh and the back of the couch and then slowly eased himself to lay down along Nezumi’s body, wedged between him and the couch, his head coming to rest on Nezumi’s chest where he could likely hear his heartbeat through Nezumi’s thin shirt. Nezumi kept hold of his book with his left hand, though he shifted that arm so it was resting behind Shion’s head along his shoulder, and his right hand reached down to rest on Shion’s arm that was extended across his waist.

Shion really should get more confident in doing stuff like this with Nezumi since while Nezumi really enjoyed the contact and relaxation, he wasn’t one to initiate something like this. Shion would get there, though, and they would both be happier for it. And maybe Nezumi would get there, too.

Nezumi let Shion take his time. He could feel how relaxed Shion was against him, indicating a tiredness that hadn’t been there when they’d gotten home. So, Nezumi’s fingers ran idly along the skin of Shion’s hand and forearm as he went back to reading, actually able to focus now.

Eventually, Shion shifted his position. Nezumi figured he’d actually dozed off and was bringing himself awake again.

And when he spoke, his voice was thick with relaxation that Nezumi was happy to hear, “I’ll need to conduct more tests over the next week to know conclusively, but I’m pretty certain that it was successful, that I was able to repair the damage.”

Nezumi moved his hand from Shion’s arm to run through white hair soothingly. “What reason do you have to think you didn’t succeed?”

“Primarily habit of not allowing room for failure until all checks have been passed. The MRI will be the final determining factor in this.”

“Why are you putting less faith in what you know about what cores can do just because it’s your disposition?” Nezumi asked, having been thinking about that over the past few hours. He’d noticed early on after Shion’s Dispel and Wraith cores formed that Shion just didn’t give himself room to actually succeed, only took note of what he had to do to improve. He allowed all the room for things to fail and even successes could have gone better in his observation.

Shion gave a one-sided shrug. “I’ve always been like that. After all, I’m the only one who can control my cores. If I don’t succeed with them, no one will. And there is no such thing as achieving perfection.”

“Yeah, well, you should ease up on reaching for it then. It’s no wonder your cores had to be taught how to relax.” He paused for a few seconds before adding, “You know more about cores than anyone I know. That has to count for something with you determining whether or not you were able to learn enough about what you were doing with a Regen core before doing it. Give yourself a little more credit. You’ve earned it with what you’ve accomplished already being a user.”

The arm across Nezumi’s waist tightened in an embrace. “Thank you, Nezumi,” Shion whispered against his chest.

“Don’t worry. I’m keeping track of all the times I have to tell you basic shit like this.” Shion let out a quiet laugh and the two lapsed into silence for another few minutes, though Nezumi knew Shion stayed awake this time. He was paying attention to his partner’s breathing, feeling for if it changed.

“We have another few days before Ushikawa is scheduled to arrive in the city, right?” Shion eventually asked. He sounded confident, even relaxed as he was.

“Yeah, day after tomorrow. We’re moving on him the night he gets here so we can hopefully catch him when he’s gotten relaxed but before he’s actually recovered his composure. That’s enough time for you to look over all the blueprints and room layout?”

“Yes, that’s plenty of time. But until then, I wanted to try it again. I want to try what you wanted to attempt a few weeks ago by having your cloak respond to me when you aren’t in contact with it.”

Nezumi looked away from his book and at the top of Shion’s head. “There’s a difference between recognizing when you’ve done things right and picking your battles, Shion. What I was trying there was to do with affinity abilities. You can’t force affinity abilities to form. Hell, even I know they don’t even form in response to traumatic situations like some cores do. They develop or they don’t with a healthy affinity only being a contributing factor.”

“Would you accept that I just feel like it’s something we shouldn’t give up on? With how the ability works, it responds to your discharge, which I have within me because of our affinity. I don’t believe it would actually qualify as an affinity ability. And I believe with me having a better understanding of how my Mirror core works, it won’t interfere like it did before. Please, could we just try again tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sure, as long as this isn’t about making an affinity ability show up.” Nezumi was being honest about that. Trying to force anything with affinities just didn’t work out and he wouldn’t have Shion get focused on something like that. Thankfully, it was something he could actually completely monitor Shion about since it was literally a connection between them. An affinity connection got stressed when it wasn’t allowed to exist naturally, when anyone tried to force anything with it.

“I swear it isn’t. I’ll just try again tomorrow and then leave it be if I’m unable to make it work for me.”

They lapsed back into silence, though it was comfortable. Nezumi kept reading for another ten minutes or so before he felt like he was about to start falling asleep and he’d learned long ago that dropping a book on his face wasn’t worth trying to continue reading once he started falling asleep. Shion was still awake, his breathing relaxed but not deep in sleep.

So Nezumi noted what page he was on before he closed and set the book on the armrest next to his head before he laid his arm along the length of Shion’s back. His other hand slid down along Shion’s shoulder backdown to his hand and then he intertwined their fingers and let them rest on his stomach comfortably. He remained awake for a while longer, listening to Shion’s breathing and waiting for it to deepen before he himself could actually fall asleep.

When he woke up again, it was late and he was curious as to why he’d even woken up with how warm and comfortable he felt. He was shifting his legs around to kick the pillow off the couch so they weren’t at an incline anymore when he felt Shion pull against his hand. He opened his eyes and leaned his head to the side so he could see Shion’s face, noting the pinched expression indicating that his dreams had taken a bad turn.

It had been a while since Shion’s last nightmare and Nezumi should have expected them to make another appearance. The two of them weren’t so lucky as to just not have to deal with them anymore.

He lifted his arm away from Shion’s back and started combing his fingers through soft, white hair as he leaned forward a bit so he could keep his voice low but still be audible, just in case Shion really did hear what he said in these moments.

“Shion, I don’t know if you remember things correctly, but we fell asleep on the couch. We don’t have the room for you to get all wrapped up in a nightmare. And I don’t trust my luck enough to think I won’t be hitting the floor by the end of this. Then again, if you set that up and that’s why you wedged yourself back there against the back of the couch, I’ll be…well, honestly, I’d be pretty impressed at your methods for getting whatever revenge you were out for and pulling it off like this. Just keep in mind that we can’t both be assholes in the relationship. That’s just too much and I’ve got dibs. And more experience.”

Shion let out a quiet groan as he shifted his position against Nezumi, his legs pressing up against Nezumi’s in a way that said he would have curled them up if Nezumi wasn’t in the way. Actually, most of the attempts he made to move around were stopped simply because they were on the couch but he seemed to give up trying once his sleeping body seemed to realize it was pretty stuck in place. And he was gradually moving less and seeming to relax back into a deeper, more restful sleep.

Nezumi hoped that meant he’d caught the nightmare early enough and that just hearing his voice had been enough to break the cycle of Shion’s brain.

Maybe Mirroring the Regen disposition had triggered Shion’s mind to remembering the last time he’d had control over that particular disposition. Nothing like utilizing the same disposition as when he was trying to make sure Nezumi didn’t die to bring that to the forefront of his mind. Not that he ever forgot but Shion managed to push it aside most of the time.

Nezumi leaned down to kiss the top of Shion’s head and muttered, “Come on, babe.” Nezumi acknowledged that throwing out a petname wasn’t nearly as amusing when Shion wasn’t awake to get irritated about it, figuring he’d be sticking to using Shion’s name as he’d always preferred. “We just got your brain fixed. This would be a really inopportune time for you to lose your mind.”

Though it would be just their luck.

Shion’s sleep was troubled for the whole night though he never woke up. Nezumi was in and out of sleep making sure of that.

* * *

Nezumi was actually anxious about facing off against one of the Oni responsible for the destruction of his home and the murder of his people. And since it wasn’t a feeling he experienced often, it had taken him most of the day to realize that’s what was happening.

The day before, he and Shion had tested out Shion being capable of keeping Nezumi’s cloak active with Qilin power after he’d let it go. Nearly three hours of Shion working through every possibility he could think of and none of them had worked. While Nezumi had expected Shion to be upset about it, that hadn’t been the result. Shion seemed to accept it wasn’t going to work and had dismissed it by the time they’d eaten dinner.

But that night had been another one of unrestful sleep for Shion and Nezumi was worried that it was two nights in a row of nightmares as that had only really happened in the first few weeks after their last fight with Oni. Nezumi hadn’t brought up the subject yet but that wasn’t going to be the case if it kept up.

They’d gone through their morning and early afternoon with little said between them, Nezumi floating between random distractions while Shion remained focused on a handful of textbooks he’d been reading about dispositions centered in the right hemisphere of the brain. Nezumi wondered if Shion was worried that he’d have more trouble with learning control over those dispositions since he struggled with the sort of mindset they usually needed, the more fluid thinking rather than defined logic that was more to Shion’s strength.

They’d eaten lunch and were waiting to hear from Yoming, the man saying he would stop by the apartment as soon as he got confirmation that Ushikawa was at his hotel.

While Nezumi didn’t necessarily struggle with waiting, it was getting to him this time around. He’d put aside the book he’d been trying to read for the past hour and settled for watching Shion wash the dishes from lunch, his back towards Nezumi so he could watch him without the risk of his partner teasing him about it. He didn’t feel like he would be in top form to verbally spar with Shion at the moment.

Which was really a shame as it was one of his favorite things to do, to feel his own mind working to keep pace with Shion and to watch Shion’s eyes light up with the challenge and interaction with Nezumi.

Nezumi wondered what an actual argument between them now would look like. Because while they butted heads often enough with both of them being stubborn to a fault, Nezumi wouldn’t consider any of that actual arguments. They usually resolved things before they got too out of hand, Nezumi getting himself some space to calm down or Shion saying something that would at least diffuse the tension so they could talk things out. What would it be like for them to disagree about something neither of them would back down about?

Nezumi honestly couldn’t say what that would even be. Of course they didn’t agree on everything, far from it in fact, but they both seemed to deeply understand that being together meant they both had to be willing to give a little to accommodate their differences. It was probably the greatest benefit to the struggle their affinity had to stabilizing, that they had to find their balance with each other quickly or they wouldn’t last.

And Nezumi had wanted them to last. He still wanted that.

He’d accept needing to get used to a new norm if it meant he got to keep Shion in his life like this. He wanted to be someone he felt Shion deserved and that just happened to be a better person than what he was when they were brought back into each other’s lives. And it was definitely a better person than Nezumi had been when they’d first met.

Nezumi had stood from the couch and was walking over to Shion before he really realized what he was doing. He thought it over on the way and decided he just wanted to be closer to Shion. He was dealing with emotions he didn’t usually need to and he knew being closer to his partner would help because it always seemed to.

He stepped up right behind Shion, the shorter teen glancing over his shoulder to Nezumi as he reached the kitchen but turned back to his task easily enough.

It was the complete trust and relaxation that Nezumi was still getting used to being on the receiving end of. People didn’t just trust him like that, not if they weren’t Shion Himura.

Nezumi reached out and combed his fingers through Shion’s hair, moving slowly so he didn’t snag any knots painfully since the thinness of Shion’s hair meant it knotted much easier than Nezumi’s did. His other hand settled on Shion’s hip, angling so that his fingertips slipped under Shion’s shirt and brushed against the skin of his side. He knew he was touching where the line of scarring curled around Shion’s waist, having long ago gotten used to the slight difference in feel of the skin as well as just knowing practically instinctively where the scars were.

Shion let out a quiet sigh, one of content as he leaned his weight back a little and his back brushed against Nezumi’s front, not resting his weight against him but just putting them in contact with each other.

There was a sudden knock at the door, Nezumi actually tensing up and curling further around Shion defensively as he was caught off-guard by the sound. But then he managed to collect himself as he remembered that they were expecting Yoming to show up.

He pressed one more kiss to the back of Shion’s head as he moved away, making his way down the hall toward the door, grabbing one of his knives on the way and flipped open the blade, just in case.

“Yeah?” he called, taking hold of the deadbolt, and getting ready to unlock it.

“It’s me,” Nezumi recognized Yoming’s voice and so he turned his hand and then opened the door enough to look around the hall to check that the man was alone before he stepped to the side to let him in. Yoming stepped just inside, giving Nezumi enough room to close the door. When the door was secured, Nezumi faced Yoming, noting that Shion had stepped into view of the hall but wasn’t approaching, allowing himself to be able to hear what was said but keeping at a distance where Nezumi could intercept any danger to him.

Nezumi was relieved that Shion was taking him seriously in doing things that allowed Nezumi to defend him.

Yoming acknowledged that Shion was there but also seemed cognizant that Nezumi was standing right behind him and so almost immediately turned his focus away from Shion and toward him.

“You said to give you two hours after Ushikawa checked in. It’s been two hours.”

“Right,” Nezumi replied noncommittally before deciding to add a quick, “Thanks.” He took a step toward the wall, giving enough space for Yoming to open the door and leave. Their business was done as far as Nezumi was concerned.

That belief was why he was confused and then suspicious as to why the man didn’t leave, instead looking like he was debating something with himself. Nezumi allowed it for a short time before he got irritated and asked impatiently, “What is it?”

Yoming blinked a few times, seeming to still be working through whatever it was before he reached into his pants pocket. Despite being sure there wasn’t a weapon in the man’s pocket based on how the material hung off him, Nezumi still tensed and prepared himself to move in response to an attack. As aware as Yoming had usually seemed to be about knowing when he was doing something to put Nezumi on guard, he missed it this time around and quickly held out his hand once he’d pulled it out of his pocket.

Nezumi had caught sight of the piece of paper as soon as it was cleared of the pocket and hadn’t reacted further but Shion obviously wasn’t as quick to relax, having picked up on Nezumi’s alertness and had moved a few steps further into the hall, ready to intervene in defense of Nezumi. At least he stopped quickly enough when Nezumi shot him a look over Yoming’s shoulder.

It was more than obvious that the two of them were tense almost to the point of overreacting. But they also couldn’t risk getting out of that mindset right now.

“What’s this?” Nezumi asked as he straightened up his posture and concentrated on relaxing his shoulders.

“Ushikawa’s disposition,” Yoming replied, even now not seeming to have realized that if Nezumi wasn’t so observant, he could have gotten seriously hurt.

Nezumi frowned in confusion, exchanging a look of similar emotion with Shion before he reached out and took the piece of paper just so the guy wasn’t holding it between them awkwardly. “We never needed you to get his disposition. I already knew it. He’s a Glyph.”

After all this time of not knowing much about the one responsible for the destruction of his hometown and the murder of his family, Nezumi had known the disposition behind it. He’d known that the attacker had used Glyphs to trap everyone and make them incapable of using their abilities.

But Yoming was shaking his head in disagreement. “No, he wasn’t the Glyph. The Glyph was a close friend of his, the two always working together on jobs. But a few years ago, they were in a car accident. Just wrong place, wrong time, someone missing a red-light sort of accident. The Glyph died and since then Ushikawa’s worked on his own.”

His mind distracted by taking in this information, Nezumi unfolded the piece of paper, seeing a blend of letters and numbers written out in messy handwriting. He looked back to Yoming with a glare. “You said this was his disposition. I’m not some code breaker.”

“It’s not a code. It’s the case number for an open case in a town not far out of the city. I need you to make sure he’s linked to it once you have him caught.”

“If you have this, then why not take it to them yourself? We don’t have the sway with any organizations to make sure anything happens,” Shion said, thankfully giving Nezumi a few seconds to relax himself further from his rising irritation. Yoming was pushing it actually trying to make them do some legwork for him. The only reason they were doing as much as they were already was because of Nezumi’s personal investment in this. But that only stretched as far as Ushikawa getting sealed or doing enough to get himself killed in the fight.

“Because this is from a police department. It has nothing to do with the Devas or U.E.A. Ushikawa killed a guy conventionally about a week ago, slit his throat. And they managed to get DNA but he’s never been arrested for anything so his DNA isn’t on file so they can’t identify him.”

“And how did you figure out it was Ushikawa when cops didn’t?” Nezumi asked, just getting more suspicious.

“Because I knew the guy. I’d asked him to try and get more information on Ushikawa’s operations in that area. He called me the day he was killed and told me he didn’t need to worry about Ushikawa being able to do anything to him with how his disposition worked.”

Shion interrupted, his voice thoughtful so he probably just had ended up speaking his thoughts. “He’s an Asura.”

Yoming spun to face Shion in surprise, confirming the teen had been right and Nezumi was once again amazed at just how much Shion knew about cores and dispositions that he’d been able to figure that out with such little information. “Yes but how did _you_ know?”

“You get used to it,” Nezumi muttered, Yoming shooting him a quick confused look before focusing back on Shion, possibly not even being able to make out what Nezumi had said.

Shion blinked a few times, making Nezumi have to suppress a laugh at how his partner had to take a few seconds to realize that he’d spoken.

“Oh, I just recalled that there were investigations into a possible Asura working across Japan over the past fifteen years. The division I worked for never handled the investigation but how widespread the activity was meant pretty much all Devas were aware of it. Although anytime there is an active Asura around, a lot of resources are pooled toward securing them. I remember there being a lot of concern that this one hadn’t been found after so long. Then again, because I was an Initiate and as young as I was, I know they were actively trying to keep me from learning much about the state of the search.”

Nezumi didn’t have anywhere near the knowledge that Shion did of cores but there were those dispositions that _everyone_ at least knew the broad strokes of their abilities. Asura was among those disposition simply because it was the only disposition where the common ability was destroying cores. And since a core’s destruction always resulted in the death of the person that core resided in, any Asura who used their ability earned the designation of Oni through murder. There just wasn’t a way for them to not become Oni if they ever used their abilities, at least not that Nezumi was aware of and nothing Shion said or expressed so far indicated otherwise.

Shion suddenly frowned, his brain working even as he was explaining himself. “But your contact, why did he assume he was safe from an Asura?”

“Because he wasn’t a user. There’s nothing for an Asura to use their abilities against without a core in the person. So, instead he just killed him.”

Nezumi scoffed, getting a glare for doing so, which he dismissed as he closed the blade he still held in his right hand and then shoved both hands casually into his pockets. “He shouldn’t have figured he wouldn’t be in any danger. It’s not like an Asura doesn’t know exactly what happens when they use their core. They know they’re killing people. And as long as Ushikawa’s been going around using his core, why would your contact think that the Oni needing to get his hands physically dirty would make a difference. It was his mistake and we aren’t going to be made to feel bad for it.”

Well, Shion probably would to some extent but that wasn’t the point. That was just what Shion was like and the circumstances of the guy’s death didn’t actually matter to getting that emotional response from the other teen.

Nezumi saw Yoming building a retort and so he turned his focus to Shion. “Can we still handle this?” he asked, watching as Shion’s mind obviously worked through the question.

It didn’t take Shion long to respond, sounding confident in a way that Nezumi would only trust from his partner after that short of a time thinking it over. Anyone else and he’d accuse them of being overconfident. And, yeah, he tended to lean towards being confident himself but he never let it get in the way of reality. Not paying attention to reality usually only got someone killed and what good was confidence then.

“We don’t need to alter anything in our approach. As a Qilin, you still have an effective defense against him since you know to focus any barriers against power from an uncentered core. I simply won’t attempt to use any abilities of my Wraith core as the Asura core cancels it out before it has any effect.”

“That’s specific,” Nezumi muttered. Even though Shion still wasn’t very skilled in using his Wraith core, it was still handy to have around and was pretty much the only disposition he had that was naturally offensive in how it was used. Nezumi wanted it to be available for Shion to use to protect himself.

Shion gave a slight smile. “There are more that it can cancel out like that but this is the only disposition applicable to us now.”

Nezumi nodded and turned his focus back to Yoming, who had been looking between the two as they talked. “Anything else?”

“You’ll make sure he gets identified as the murderer?” Yoming asked.

Shion answered instead. “Of course the case will be updated and closed when his identity is confirmed as the killer. All user organizations run fingerprints and DNA for the sake of ensuring that cases aren’t left open simply because the crime isn’t within their jurisdiction. However, punishment will be handled completely by them. You understand that, right?”

It was a fair question and a topic that a lot of people tended to have problems with one way or another. Law enforcement that followed general law were kept completely separate from those specified to users. The Devas, User Enforcement Agency, and the Protection of the Paladins Organization were only concerned with user specific laws being broken. But when it came to punishment for breaking laws, user laws took precedence. A lot of people took that to mean the criminal got off easy as the most common sentence was being sealed and sent to a rehabilitation facility. But the requirements they had to meet in order to be released were usually pretty extreme and the facilities themselves were still jails.

Shion had once said that meeting the requirements to be released from a rehabilitation facility was the hardest thing an Oni ever did. And that was further proven in that the numbers of Oni reoffending was in the low teens percentile. The rehabilitation worked a lot more often than sending a criminal to prison.

Then there was the factor of more Oni being killed while being apprehended than people being arrested by normal law enforcement. Because despite how much training was required for Devas and U.E.A. agents, once cores were factored in, Oni had more ways of fighting back and being a threat.

It seemed that Yoming was on the side that was against user laws taking priority in this guy’s punishment. He looked like he was getting angry and Nezumi stepped around him so that he was between the man and Shion, just in case he decided to get stupid about how he handled his anger.

“What if that’s not good enough?” Yoming demanded.

Shion sounded confused when he answered. “That’s not for us to decide. As an Asura who has used their abilities, he will be sealed for life and the requirements for a successful rehabilitation will be complex. What more is there that Nezumi and I could do without risking becoming Oni ourselves? We are merely civilians and will be severely pushing the limits of what we can do without getting in trouble. And even if it’s decided to not designate us as Oni, we will be reprimanded for taking the fight on rather than immediately contacting the Devas. It is only my former status as a Deva that may bring us leeway and even then this would risk my status of being in good standing with the organization being revoked.”

Yoming was about to respond, still angry, but Nezumi cut him off. “We’re the ones taking all the risk here. You don’t get to tell us how to put our lives on the line.”

The man looked irritated and there was a moment that Nezumi thought he would try and force his point but then he let out a growl of a sigh and turned toward the door to leave. “Fine. Then I’ll call the Devas in an hour as agreed.”

He slammed the door behind him and Nezumi rolled his eyes at the man obviously not being able to handle not getting his way.

Nezumi looked back to Shion, who looked conflicted. So Nezumi stepped up to him and rested his hand on the top of Shion’s head. Red eyes looked up at him and they just kept eye contact for a few seconds before Shion took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, focusing himself. Nezumi let his hand slide down to cup Shion’s cheek, running his thumb along the end of the scarring extending out under his left eye. He leaned down and gave Shion a brief kiss, barely touching their lips together.

He moved away, turning to grab his cloak off the hanger he’d started keeping it on across from the door. After all, he figured it was something best kept near where it would be useful. He’d been considering finding another one that was the right size and starting to go through the same process of running so much of his power through it that it connected with his core’s discharge, figuring that it shouldn’t take years like it had for the first one as he knew what he was doing this time around.

Shion had walked back toward their room, emerging just a minute later as he was pulling a ballcap on low over his brow. It didn’t conceal his attention-grabbing hair as completely as a beanie did. But Shion didn’t like having to wear sunglasses to conceal his eyes and scar and this let him avoid that. Nezumi would accept something over nothing as long as Shion was making an effort and adjusting.

He also noted then that his eyes were drawn to the ring on Shion’s middle finger. He’d only worn it once since locating it but now he didn’t have a choice in the matter. He needed it to be on when the Devas showed up to finish up with Ushikawa.

They headed out then, heading right for the subway. It was about twenty minutes to the closest station to the hotel Ushikawa was at and then another ten minutes or so to walk the remaining distance. They would then need some time to check the area and make sure they were set to confront Ushikawa without putting anyone else at risk. The response time for the Devas shouldn’t be too long with Yoming calling it in and Shion figured they would have a few minutes before the Devas were on the scene. So, they needed to have Ushikawa sealed and ready to be taken into custody by then with Shion ready to run interference with the Devas and cover for them taking action like they did.

They had talked about it and Shion accepted that Nezumi felt like he had to be the one who apprehended Ushikawa. He had to be sure it was settled and he’d never been one to let others fight his battles. And on some level, he only trusted Shion and himself to get it done.

They boarded the train and were able to take a seat next to each other without being crowded in, which was a bit surprising considering the time of day. Nezumi took a moment to watch Shion out of the corner of his eyes, gauging his partner’s state to see if he needed to do anything to help him.

He had a thought but then realized how amusing it was and couldn’t help but let out a quiet chuckle, gaining Shion’s attention.

“What is it?” Shion asked.

“Nothing much. I just thought for a second that you’re being pretty calm about all this. Then I remembered that this part is what you’ve actually got the experience with. Out of all the things you could have been a part of as a Deva, it’s the tracking down an Oni so they can be taken in aspect.”

Shion frowned a little, likely not seeing why Nezumi found that funny. “Right.”

Nezumi gave him an amused look. “That’s the part normal people would usually get anxious about. It was just me thinking how you’re weird.”

Shion stared for a second longer before he shook his head and crossed his arms as he looked away from Nezumi. “I can’t be nervous about facing an Oni or I lose. Anxiety like that causes hesitation and assume the Oni will take advantage of that. It’s what they teach all Devas.”

“I thought you didn’t do the combat training,” Nezumi responded, knowing that was the reason Shion hadn’t been able to advance off the first rank of Initiate while with the Devas even though he’d been one for more than two years.

“I didn’t. They impressed that message on us in all training so that we were sure to learn the lesson.”

“Expect the worst?”

“And plan for it. Always plan for the worst as your first option and let it become easier from there.”

And that was what they had done when preparing to face Ushikawa. It was only a question of how much of that worst-case scenario planning they would need to tap into over the next hour.


	11. Asura

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shion and Nezumi go on the offensive...

When Nezumi had been checking out the hotel before, he’d managed to time his arrival for when there was flood of incoming guests, blending in with the crowd in a way he wouldn’t have been able to pull off if Shion had been with him. Though that was mostly because Shion couldn’t quite nail being inconspicuous. Maybe back when he had more plain features it was more feasible, but even then Nezumi had always managed to pick him out of the crowd. And it couldn’t have just been a matter of his attraction, he’d decided.

But they weren’t going to have that cover this time around. Or at least it wasn’t guaranteed that they would. And since Shion was going to be warning reception about commotion that they weren’t to send anyone to investigate for their own safety, it wasn’t like they were going for no one knowing this time.

As they walked up toward the building, Nezumi had pulled the cloak from around his shoulders and untwisted it so it hung down around his body.

He and Shion had spent some time over the past few days working with the cloak. After confirming that Shion couldn’t keep the charge to the Qilin discharge once Nezumi was out of contact with it, they had instead practiced maneuvering around each other so that Nezumi could most quickly and effectively cover Shion with the cloak as well. Because it would have been moot for him to have it but fumble getting it into position just because he wasn’t practiced in moving it around Shion.

The doorman watched their approach, Nezumi figuring they made quite a unique pair walking up to the hotel. He still opened the door for them and gave them a professionally kind greeting but Nezumi figured he was calling the front desk to warn them once they were past him.

Shion stepped ahead of Nezumi to lead the way to the reception desk, repositioning his hat a little further back so that he didn’t seem like he was hiding his appearance. There were three people working at the desk, one already talking to someone and the other two were watching them approach. Shion angled himself to head toward the one on the far left, a young woman who seemed more curious than anything. Nezumi trusted Shion’s call on this.

Shion stepped to the very corner of the desk and leaned in so he could speak to her in a low tone, Nezumi watching the other receptionists as the man that wasn’t helping the customer shifted in his stool like he was going to move to interfere.

“We’re here on official business with one of your guests. We know where they are and only require that you do not send anyone to investigate any reports of commotion. Anyone who approaches will be putting themselves in danger and we would like to avoid anyone getting unnecessarily hurt.” Shion spoke in a calm, kind tone but there still managed to be some authority to pick up on and sold that he knew what he was talking about.

This was the side of Shion that Nezumi hadn’t really seen: the experienced Deva working.

The woman was silent for a few seconds before responding, “I’m going to need to see identification, sir. I can’t just allow you to bother one of our guests without proof that you are here in an official capacity.”

Shion didn’t even miss a beat. “The nature of our business doesn’t require us to identify ourselves. That I am telling you ahead of time is a courtesy I didn’t have to extend. All you need to do if any other guests call in is tell them that the situation is being handled. Remain uninvolved for the safety of the staff here.”

The receptionist stared at Shion for another few seconds before she nodded briefly. Nezumi wondered if those red eyes were actually good for intimidation if the person didn’t know how kind of a person they were dealing with in Shion. But he guessed his partner could seem like a much more intense person when he was focusing those unnaturally red eyes on someone.

Though there was also the factor that Shion hadn’t lied about not being required to show identification as a Deva. Devas had somewhat more leeway in acting without needing to announce themselves. And lying about being a Deva just didn’t happen too often, not when Devas didn’t go around announcing who they were, instead tended to only reveal that when absolutely necessary.

Shion turned away from the desk and gave Nezumi a nod toward the elevators. Nezumi gave the two receptionists that were paying attention to them an intense look of his own, knowing for sure that he was intimidating and it wouldn’t hurt to give one final nonverbal warning. Satisfied that they didn’t look like they were going to call the cops as soon as they were out of sight, he followed Shion to the elevators. Shion was waiting, having already hit the button and he gave Nezumi a look hinted with amusement. When the elevator arrived and they stepped inside, Nezumi hit the button for the sixteenth floor.

“She wasn’t going to call anyone,” Shion said though he was still amused.

“Prepare for the worst. Last thing we need is some security guard stumbling in and getting one of us killed,” Nezumi replied as he stepped in close to Shion. They were getting off on the floor below Ushikawa, making sure they didn’t have to worry about any of his entourage jumping in and turning the odds out of their favor.

When the elevator doors opened, Nezumi stepped out first, leading the way down to room 1606. He looked over his shoulder to Shion, who was already blinking in the manner that gave away he was transitioning between what his Clairvoyant core allowed him to see.

Shion had told him that he didn’t have to blink when he changed what he was focusing on with his Clairvoyance but it did make it easier for him. It made him more able to make it like the flip of a switch rather than a slower shift in focus.

Right now he would be looking for where the users inside the room were.

His eyes passed along the wall for the length of the room on both sides of the door. Nezumi knew that it wasn’t so much that Shion could see through the wall, but more that he could visualize the awareness of core discharge. That was how Shion had described it once and Nezumi only sort of understood. The only downside was that without seeing the core in relation to the person’s body, Shion wouldn’t be able to tell where they were centered.

Not that it would matter with how they were going to handle them.

“Nine cores between five people inside,” Shion noted.

Nezumi frowned. “That’s more than we were banking on. Is that going to be a problem?” They hadn’t really pushed the limits of Shion’s Wraith core like this and Nezumi was officially concerned that this would make it so Shion would be vulnerable to the Asura they were about to face. Because even though a Wraith’s power apparently didn’t work against the Asura disposition, Shion had other abilities from that core he relied on.

“It won’t exhaust me, no,” Shion replied after a short moment of consideration. “The training I’ve undergone the past few weeks has allowed me to find proficiency in how much discharge I use in basic abilities, even with the Wraith core.”

Nezumi just nodded, trusting that Shion wouldn’t mislead him in this. After all, Shion wouldn’t do anything that would put Nezumi in danger. He would downplay his own risk all day but not when it affected Nezumi.

So, Nezumi carried on according to plan, pushing the sides of the cloak back over his shoulders as he kneeled down and tapped into the neutral power of his Qilin core, his hands immediately taking on a dim, colorless glow. He was about to actually build his power when he had a thought and asked, “Keep it general or match it to a cardiac centered core?”

Shion had been working on gathering his own power but that obviously made him lose his focus as his expression became distant as he worked through the question. The problem was that if they went the wrong way, they wouldn’t get a second chance like this. The Oni inside the room would be alerted to them and it would become a fight. And they really needed to avoid this becoming a fight for the sake of Ushikawa not becoming aware of them being there.

“General. The Qilin power may perceive the Wraith discharge to be a threat to be altered and it won’t work if that happens. It just needs to carry my discharge, not interact with it.”

Nezumi nodded and continued building the power he’d need and then held his hands out right next to each other in front of him open with the palms facing straight up, lowering them both down to the floor until the backs of his hands were resting flat on the floor. Shion kneeled down next to him and touched his left hand to Nezumi’s, positioned sideways so that his hand was in contact with both of Nezumi’s, his own hands giving off a faint glow of concentrated power.

“Ready,” Shion confirmed.

Nezumi nodded and started moving his hands apart from each other, the glow of his power spreading out quickly along the floor to create a solid layer of Qilin power, carrying with it nine charges of Wraith power that would ride his barrier into range of the Oni and strike once they were within about a meter of the charge.

Shion moved his hand away as he’d passed along all the charges and now Nezumi needed to make sure he had smooth mobility. Once Shion moved away enough, Nezumi moved his hands closer to himself before shooting them out and further apart, the film of Qilin power exploding away from him in a widening arc, passing under the door and through the wall to span the room along the floor, Nezumi knowing how big the room was from the blueprints he’d gotten for Shion and found a use for himself.

He looked over to Shion, watching him for any indication that it hadn’t worked, even as he heard a few yelps from inside the room followed by soft thuds. He didn’t even try to rely on how many of those he heard since they might not all have been awake and couldn’t reliably hear everything throughout the room.

A Wraith’s most basic ability of cutting a user off from their core for a short period of time would have been somewhat useful. But Shion had found a way to push just a little harder, to put a little more power into the ability and it would knock the person out for a short time, the sudden loss of power from their cores taking the body and mind by surprise so that it just shut down to protect itself.

“Clear,” Shion announced and Nezumi cut off the power he was pulling from his Qilin core and lifted his hands from the floor, the glow of power fading immediately.

Nezumi wished they’d been able to get a keycard so he could do a sweep of the room and make sure that everyone inside was in fact unconscious. But Shion had said that they would have needed to show identification for that so it wasn’t an option for them as long as they were intent on handling it themselves. And the Oni in the room wouldn’t be out for long so Nezumi and Shion were officially on a time crunch.

They both stood and headed for the stairs at a fast jog, Nezumi remaining in front as he shrugged his cloak back over the front of his shoulders and gave it the simple charge that activated its barrier aspect. He felt the familiar tingle of protective power surrounding him, putting him ever so slightly at ease.

They emerged on the next floor up where Ushikawa was and made their way down the hall to where the Oni had been right above his cohort. Nezumi was bringing his hands up in front of him with his hands positioned in front of him to form another barrier that he was going to form solidly to destroy the door but Shion reached out and grabbed his hand, stopping him just by making him unable to form the barrier with his hand position being altered.

“What?” he asked, looking to Shion to see his partner’s eyes fixed on the wall to the side of the door.

Shion stepped closer to the wall and let his hand trail along it like he was looking for something, pausing when he was just a step past Nezumi. “There it is.” Nezumi stepped closer and peered at where Shion was indicating but couldn’t see anything. Noting his lack of response, Shion elaborated. “There’s an active Glyph emblem here. There’s no way I can tell what its purpose is. It may have nothing to do with Ushikawa.”

“Yeah, but what’s the likelihood of that being the case?” Nezumi asked rhetorically.

“Can you direct a barrier to cause surface damage? The slightest break in an emblem breaks its usefulness.”

“I’m about to break down a door. Of course I can bring it in and crack some wallpaper.”

Shion didn’t respond, Nezumi barely picking up on the tingle of gathered power from his partner and he guessed that it was from his Dispel core. The power flowed out of Shion and Nezumi lost feeling of it though he figured that Shion had used it to at least disrupt the power flowing into the emblem and Nezumi followed that up with a quick burst of Qilin discharge that would counter power from a core centered in the right hemisphere of the brain as Glyph cores were. He figured that would practically make the emblem break itself as the barrier didn’t allow any of its power to penetrate.

Shion ran his hand over the wall where Nezumi had focused his power and gave a short nod. “It’s not active anymore. And I don’t see any more out here but we need to be careful going inside. They’re difficult for me to see until I’m close to them.”

“Aren’t they straight up core discharge?” Nezumi had to ask, figuring it shouldn’t be an issue for Shion to see them considering it’s what his Clairvoyant core was supposed to do.

Shion looked to the side and Nezumi guessed the answer before it was said. “Lingering weakness from the Plague. I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was going to be affected still like that. I haven’t seen an active Glyph emblem in a while.”

Nezumi rolled his eyes a little as he reached out and briefly rested his hand on the back of Shion’s neck, hoping the contact would be a comfort to his partner. “Nothing to be sorry about there,” he added, just in case.

He pushed at Shion’s shoulder lightly, urging him to return to the protected position behind Nezumi. The taller teen returned to his initial action of building his Qilin power and then pulling his hands apart just enough to expand the solid layer of power so it would span most of the door, then pushed out quickly and the barrier burst away from him and through the doorframe, breaking the door into the room with a loud crash.

Nezumi ignored the sound of people yelling in other rooms as he immediately extended another barrier, this time forming it in a dome that practically formed just beyond their bodies, his ability to manipulate the shape of his Qilin barriers better than most Qilins because of him being a Chimera and one core influencing the other. The faint glow it let off was the pale purple of a barrier formed to counter specifically uncentered cores.

He felt Shion take hold of his jacket at the small of his back and so he moved forward into the room at a quick and even pace, aware of the tingle of Shion’s gathered power in his hand at his back. Nezumi knew his partner had to keep it gathered close to him so the Dispel charge of power that would cancel out anything it came across didn’t affect his barrier. Shion’s Dispel core could still have unpredictable moments like that, still not seeming to recognize Nezumi’s power as belonging to the one it was connected to through an affinity.

They’d just barely stepped past the narrow entryway of the hotel room when Nezumi felt power attack the barrier. And even though the barrier held it off, Nezumi felt the strength behind it, felt that it wouldn’t take many more strikes like that to overpower him. Maybe he could handle three more strikes like that with the amount of power he’d charged this barrier with.

And they’d barely taken another step when a second strike reverberated off the barrier.

“Fucking Qilins,” Nezumi heard a man’s voice mutter from the opposite side of the room and he let his attention focus on what he could see through the shimmer of his barrier and the settling dust from him destroying the door.

Ushikawa was a physically intimidating man, tall and muscled, his hazel eyes cold and his expression conveying that he should be someone you feared. His face was angular, his head shaved.

Nezumi felt like he’d seen this man before even as he knew he’d never gotten truly close to the man, let alone within sight of him. Maybe he’d seen him when he’d been destroying his hometown but Nezumi couldn’t be certain. He was just certain that this was the person he needed to take down to get even for the loss of his family and home.

Nezumi didn’t need to be a Clairvoyant to know Ushikawa was building up his core for another strike. His hands were raised in front of him in a manner very similar to how Nezumi’s were and his body was practically vibrated with building discharge. It hadn’t peaked yet and that was necessary for interrupting it.

In one smooth motion, Nezumi dropped his hands to release his barrier and crouched low as he felt the gathered energy within Shion shoot out over his head and at Ushikawa. The man let out a growl tinged with pain, which surprised Nezumi as a Dispel’s ability to cancel out core power wasn’t supposed to hurt. And Nezumi had been on the receiving end of Shion’s Dispel core before so he was speaking from experience on this.

Nezumi glanced over his shoulder to Shion, seeing the frown that said Shion had noticed and was confused as well. So it hadn’t been some ability he’d developed that he’d forgotten to tell Nezumi about.

But they couldn’t ease up, couldn’t give Ushikawa a chance to recover his bearings. Shion’s Dispel core didn’t cut people off from their cores like his Wraith core, merely interrupted any buildup. Ushikawa could immediately go into gathering his power again.

So Nezumi was already building another barrier, his hands glowing with the gathered power and he clasped his hands together with his fingers interlocked to initialize the form the barrier would take, not worrying this time about detailed forming, leaving it as a simple dome that would surround them. He parted his hands to spread the barrier just as Shion kneeled so he wouldn’t have to make it as large and expend more power. Then they remained in a crouch as they moved further into the room, closer to Ushikawa. Nezumi needed to be within reach of him to seal his core and he needed Shion to buy him the second he would need.

There was another wave of power striking against the barrier as Ushikawa obviously collected himself enough to renew his attack. And just like before, it was followed immediately by another one, and then another. Concerned that the man could keep this up longer than Nezumi could keep a barrier without draining himself too much to perform the seal, he glanced over his shoulder to Shion. Shion’s eyes were glued to Ushikawa, Nezumi close enough that he could actually see the reflection of core power shimmering within red eyes that proved his Clairvoyant core was active.

Shion let his eyes meet Nezumi’s and then he moved to step around Nezumi. He wanted to reach out and pull his partner back but he couldn’t without dropping the barrier, regretting that he hadn’t made it malleable before letting it form. Because now he couldn’t change that, could only adjust the size as a whole.

Shion remained low as he pulled the ballcap off his head and looked intently toward Ushikawa. There was one more strike against Nezumi’s barrier before it stopped and the room went eerily still.

“Are you shitting me?” Ushikawa exclaimed. “You just walk through my fucking door?”

“Why are you targeting me?” Shion asked, his tone similar to what he’d used with the receptionist but without the hint of kindness, sounding older than Nezumi had ever heard him.

Ushikawa let out a belt of a laugh. “Why else? You made quite the statement with that shit you pulled when you clued the Devas into that apartment complex. Even killed one of them. We can’t have someone on that side of things willing to take us out so easily.” Nezumi almost scoffed at that horrible misjudgment. Not only wasn’t Shion willing to kill people like that but just because the user law enforcement organizations made sure their people left killing the Oni as a last resort didn’t automatically mean they were willing to go that far. And it hadn’t seemed like the guy was taking a dig at Shion when he said that. It had felt like he actually believed that.

How could someone who had been acting as an Oni for as long as Ushikawa had be so wrong about the Devas?

“It’s just because of what happened in the apartment complex?” Shion asked, Nezumi barely able to pick up on the relief.

“What’s it matter to you? Or are you so fucking confident that you think you’ll be getting out of this room? I picked this up to make sure you’d be taken out. I don’t let those I target just walk away, especially since you’re the ones who came busting through my door. I could burst all the cores in your little bodies and it would be self-defense.”

Nezumi did scoff then, partially because it was funny but mostly because he was starting to get anxious about all the man’s focus being on Shion. That felt too dangerous so he wanted to draw some of the focus.

And it worked as Ushikawa’s gaze shifted to him. “And then there’s my resident stalker. What the fuck is your problem with me? Didn’t get the message when I got you accused of being like me?”

Nezumi frowned at the obvious implication that Ushikawa didn’t actually know who he really was. He knew he’d been tracking him down and got close when he was thirteen. But he’d never figured out he was a survivor of a town Ushikawa had been responsible for destroying? That…made sense but it was still a little insulting. That meant that it had just been how he would have handled anyone getting close to him, have them be apprehended on suspicion of being an Oni.

While Nezumi’s pride had been behind his initial irritation, he realized now that what they had was an unexpected advantage. Because if the guy had no idea who Nezumi was, he had no idea he was a Siren.

That just meant Nezumi had to time things right and he had the perfect way to get Shion his opportunity. He just wished he had complete trust that his Siren abilities wouldn’t affect Shion. They hadn’t really experimented with its efficacy on his affinity partner and Nezumi wouldn’t use right now to figure that out. So, he’d have to drop the barrier so he could keep Shion from hearing what he said and hope that Shion figured out on the fly what he was doing and not waste the one opportunity they would have to take Ushikawa by surprise with this.

As it was, Nezumi could tell the Oni was already done with the conversation and was ready to finish this off. Maybe he’d been seeing if anyone would show up to help him out, buying time and now realizing he was on his own was ready to go back on the offensive.

Having an idea, Nezumi dropped his hands, allowing the barrier he’d kept up to dissipate even as he was already altering his flow of Qilin power into his cloak and he grabbed onto the material hanging off his left shoulder even as he reached out and grabbed Shion’s jacket collar and pulled him back, the smaller teen falling back against him and then Nezumi wrapped both his arms securely around Shion’s head, taking the cloak with the motion so as much of Shion’s head was closed off as possible between his arms and the cloak charged with an active barrier that he’d concentrated into muffling sounds.

At the same time, he’d tapped into his Siren core and felt his throat tingle with its power, ready to turn his words into a message the listener’s mind would perceive as the absolute truth they needed to heed. But he had to be careful with an Oni of this experience and disposition. If he chose the wrong phrasing, Ushikawa would be less likely to be strongly influenced like they needed.

“You’re too distracted to build enough power,” Nezumi declared. Nezumi noted how the man’s expression flashed in confusion and he saw the opportunity to press just a little further. “What you’ve got isn’t enough to break through my barrier.”

Knowing he couldn’t waste any time, Nezumi stood up with his arms still around Shion to keep him stable but then quickly removed the cloak and his arms from his partner. He bit out a quick “Now!” when he felt that his Siren core had receded enough that it wasn’t affecting his words. He couldn’t have anything affecting Shion’s mind, especially since the reaction would be for Shion’s mind to fight against the message as he knew he was a Siren, and there was the chance he could influence Ushikawa to attack with that.

Shion proved to be completely cognizant of what Nezumi had done and took a few steps closer with his hand already charged with power from his Dispel core. He watched Ushikawa for the perfect moment, waited for the man to begin working past the Siren influence, giving Nezumi the chance he needed to alter his focus from holding a barrier to forming a seal, which meant he couldn’t keep any barrier active. Even his cloak would only hold a barrier of fading strength for another ten seconds or so.

Ushikawa was getting frustrated quickly, his eyes lifting to glare past Shion at Nezumi, likely having already worked out what it meant for him to be a Siren. There was a pulse of power through the room as he built his power through the influence Nezumi had instilled but he didn’t get any further as Shion timed his Dispel wave for the crescendo of power, his extensive training with his Clairvoyant sight allowing him to identify that moment accurately, and cut it off before it could form into an attack. That way the power would be used and it would drain the core just that little bit more. And the less power the core had, the longer Nezumi could seal it. He’d already used more of his Qilin power than he’d wanted to dealing with this asshole.

And this time, there was no indication that getting hit with the power of a Dispel core had hurt.

Shion was already following up his Dispel power, which Nezumi hadn’t expected. And when he moved to step around his partner to get in close enough to make the contact he needed to complete the seal, Shion stepped in front of him. Before he could ask what was going on, he recognized the charge of power from his partner that always made him uncomfortable: Shion was getting ready to hit Ushikawa with his Wraith core and interrupt him even being able to build up power.

But hadn’t Shion said that an Asura cancelled out the power of a Wraith?

Either way, he couldn’t get in front of Shion and get hit with that or he’d be the one unable to do anything with his cores.

Shion was quick with the build and attack with his Wraith core, only taking a little more than two seconds to build the power he needed and then launch it at Ushikawa, the air around him charged with a disruptive buzz that Nezumi felt himself shiver at feeling close to.

And it hit Ushikawa before the man could recover from the Dispel strike. The large man stumbled back and caught himself with a hand bracing against the wall, like he’d lost strength and Nezumi recognized the feeling.

It had worked.

But it was Nezumi’s turn to act quickly to take advantage of a given opportunity and he rushed around Shion and grabbed hold of Ushikawa’s bare arm, willing his Qilin power into the man’s body, finding his Asura core lingering in his right hand, and then altering the state of his power to form the sealing barrier around the core, creating a blockage between Ushikawa’s body and the core so no commands could be taken in while no core discharge could escape.

Expecting the seal to cause a sudden lapse in strength that usually caused the person to pass out as their body wasn’t sure what to do without the core’s discharge interacting with it, Nezumi looked over his shoulder to check on Shion. He’d barely moved when he caught movement out of the corner of his eyes but couldn’t turn back toward it fast enough to keep from being knocked over with a solid punch to his side, barely missing his kidney. He still went down to his knees at an angle that made it so he couldn’t recover immediately. And he didn’t get a chance either way as he was pushed flat to the floor and then another punch landed on the back of his skull, disorienting him.

He heard Shion call out his name and then heard the footsteps of his partner running towards them and he wanted to tell him to stay back but he couldn’t form the words. He soon heard the sounds of struggle right behind him until there was the thud of a body hitting the wall. And it didn’t sound heavy enough to have been Ushikawa.

Nezumi pushed his limbs to respond to him, to get his hands underneath him so he could push himself to his knees and then stand to keep Shion safe. He managed to pick his head up and drag his hands so they were flat against the floor beneath his shoulders so he could push his body up enough to rotate himself over.

He saw what he was afraid he would: Shion was being held up against the wall, his feet barely touching the floor as the Oni had one large hand pressing him into the wall at his throat. Shion was already struggling to breathe, his fingers clawing at the hand since the man’s body was out of reach with their size difference. And even the meter or so distance Nezumi was from them, he felt the charge to the air that indicated that Shion’s Dispel core was trying to defend him but there was nothing it could do when there was no core involved.

None of Shion’s cores were of any use against this. This was exactly the sort of thing Nezumi was supposed to be protecting his partner from.

Nezumi reached for his own Qilin core, that disposition taking just a bit less concentration and his mind was still sluggish from the hit, but he could already tell that he didn’t have enough strength in it to do anything. He’d needed a lot more than he’d anticipated just to get to where he could seal Ushikawa.

Shion’s struggles were slowing down.

Nezumi reached for his Siren core, accessing it in a careless manner that he’d never done before and the feel of its practically immediate readiness to influence others was intimidating.

But not enough to discourage Nezumi from using it to protect Shion. There was no way Shion was going to die because Nezumi fucked up so pathetically.

“You will let him go right now!” Nezumi yelled. And then when Ushikawa didn’t completely let Shion go, his grip faltering before he seemed to catch himself and fight back against the influence, Nezumi continued, pushing himself slowly to his knees as he spoke and continued to recover from the hit. “You don’t want to face the consequences of hurting him.” The man was struggling with himself more obviously. “You’re terrified to die and if you don’t let him go, you will be killed.”

It probably helped that Nezumi wasn’t lying. That always made the influence just that little bit stronger. And it was almost concerning how ready he was to just slit the guy’s throat because he was hurting Shion. What he’d done to hurt Nezumi paled in comparison next to threatening Shion’s life like he was right now.

And Shion was barely moving against his hand, nearly unconscious.

Ushikawa’s whole body was trembling with the struggle to fight against Nezumi’s Siren influence. He was good, mentally strong, Nezumi would admit. But he wouldn’t win against them now.

Nezumi was on his feet and walking toward the man, reaching into his jacket pocket and in one smooth motion pulled out his knife, flipped it open, and stabbed it down to the grip into Ushikawa’s side just below the ribs and then into his arm right at the elbow joint.

Ushikawa yelped in pain and dropped Shion, his other hand reaching for the knife that Nezumi left imbedded in his arm, grabbing his second knife from his pants pocket and readying it in case the man was a fucking moron and attacked them again.

He seemed preoccupied with the pain, though as he stumbled away, yanking at the grip of the knife to try and pull it out but was having trouble at the angle Nezumi had stabbed it in at, wedging it between the bones with ease he’d learned and practiced a long time ago but hadn’t needed to use for a while.

He stepped toward Shion, the smaller teen having crumpled to lay on his side on the floor when Ushikawa had released him, taking in gasping breaths between bouts of coughing, his body rushing to take in needed air. Nezumi kneeled in front of Shion, reaching out with his free hand to rest it against the side of Shion’s head just to feel his warmth and feel the motion of his body, proof that he was alive.

Shion’s left hand quickly grabbed at Nezumi’s hand, his nails biting into Nezumi’s skin in a way that revealed it had been a panicked reaction. But he relaxed before Nezumi could say anything to let him know who was there, that it wasn’t someone that was going to hurt him. Shion’s grip shifted so he was tightly holding Nezumi’s hand, making sure he stayed there.

Nezumi heard a low thud of something small hitting the floor and he turned to see that Ushikawa had managed to pull the knife out and was now heading for the exit of the room, stumbling over the remains of the door. Nezumi rolled his eyes before he turned enough that he could take aim and then threw his knife, the blade burying into Ushikawa’s calf as aimed and he fell over with a loud cry of pain.

“Better hope the Devas show up before you bleed out,” Nezumi declared. “I sure as hell am not going to be plugging any holes I just put in you.”

He turned his attention back to Shion, whose grip had loosened. His breathing was slowing down but there was still a rasp and Nezumi could already see lines forming around Shion’s scar that would definitely be a bruise. And it wouldn’t help that Shion bruised easy as it was. He slid in close to Shion’s body, sitting on the floor right in front of Shion’s stomach as he positioned his cloak over his partner, struggling a bit as he only had one hand to do it with. But this way, he could let Shion know he was right there even as he collected himself and he could watch Ushikawa to make sure he didn’t do anything else but complain until the Devas arrived. They should be there any minute.

And if the Oni did try something, Nezumi had another knife in his boot that would be heading right for the asshole’s heart.

Nezumi figured he’d given enough warnings that he wouldn’t be charged with anything.


	12. Next Step

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fight brought up questions that need answers...

Nezumi was almost disappointed that he didn’t have to stab Ushikawa again. It had been amazingly therapeutic to get the guy who had caused so much pain and death to feel even some piece of the pain he’d inflicted on others.

But a Deva and a pair of U.E.A. agents had shown up about ninety seconds after Nezumi threw the second knife and they had moved swiftly to apprehend the Oni. Nezumi hadn’t recognized any of them and had remained still while watching them work. Shion had moved to sit up, having recovered quickly enough in the time he’d been still, but Nezumi had kept his hand pressed against Shion’s shoulder to keep him still until Ushikawa was out of sight and it was only people on their side around.

The Deva must have been the one to take custody of the Oni because it was the two agents that returned a moment after they’d disappeared and Nezumi moved his hand off of Shion so he could sit up, pulling the cloak off of him as he pushed himself upright, leaning against the wall. He waited until they were closer before he held his left his hand out so the ring was clearly visible.

The agents paused, Nezumi noticing the hints of surprise in their expressions and body language. And of course they would know immediately what it meant, being in another organization focused on users. If it had been cops, it would have been less likely to be so readily understood.

“Shion Himura, former Deva Initiate,” Shion introduced himself, his voice raspy as it likely would be for a day or two unless he accepted a Regen’s help. Which was unlikely since he was the kind to only accept help when it was serious on top of the risk of his fourth core being noticed.

One of the agents nodded and muttered, “Yeah, the tip mentioned there was someone trained involved. Can you tell me what happened?”

Shion nodded and launched into an unsettlingly concise breakdown of what had happened, only curbing details that would imply why the two of them were there in the first place. They were sort of relying on an assumption that they happened to be there. And Shion had said that if they started asking questions along those lines that he would figure out what to say. And while Nezumi knew that Shion’s brain worked fast, he also knew that Shion was horrible about making lies believable on the fly.

But he’d asked Nezumi to let him handle it so Nezumi would let him handle it.

When Shion got to the point of when he’d been getting choked out, Nezumi took over and gave the short and sweet of how he’d first tried to get Ushikawa to let Shion go by using his Siren core and resorted to the more violent option of stabbing him only when that didn’t work. He figured they wouldn’t accuse him of taking things too far with that explanation.

The agent took in their statements with very little to indicate what he thought about anything, mildly impressing Nezumi with how well he maintained a poker face.

When it was obvious they were finished, the agent let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose before he glanced around the room as if to confirm that the damage from the fight was all still there.

“Well, thanks for stepping up like you did to apprehend him. We wished you would have just reported his location to us to begin with, especially with how dangerous this Oni is. I know you’ve been trained as a Deva but you aren’t one anymore and you can’t go around getting involved in matters like this or you’re risking impeding our jobs.”

Nezumi really had to fight off laughing at this agent trying to talk down to Shion. He really had no idea who he was talking to and too bad there was only a fifty-fifty chance of Shion saying something to knock him down a few pegs. Though maybe it was a little higher considering all the things Shion could say that he wouldn’t intend to be taken as a show of his intelligence but could be taken offensively anyway.

“I apologize, but that’s not how I was trained by the Devas,” Shion replied, indicating that he was likely going to go right for one of those unintentionally insulting options. “I had the means to see a very dangerous Oni apprehended and it would have been more of a risk to call in a report as I know it couldn’t be guaranteed that someone that could apprehend Ushikawa would have been available. We knew we could seal him.”

The agent seemed to have some frustration over what Shion had said but also seemed to be unable to figure out anything he could say to refute Shion.

Nezumi could relate with that particular frustration even as he didn’t want the man to figure an argument out.

“May I ask why you aren’t a Deva anymore? The ring indicates you left on good terms at least.”

The agent seemed way more uncomfortable about asking than Shion was in answering. “I became a Chimera.”

“And have you considered answering that obvious itch you have about still being in a position to fight Oni legally?” It was the closest the agent had gotten to sounding irritated even as he managed to not sound like he was talking down to Shion.

And with that, the agent had mistakenly stumbled on one awkward topic between Nezumi and Shion, something that had been put to the wayside months ago but now felt like it was on the tip of Shion’s tongue. Nezumi had felt it building ever since Shion had talked to Safu and had found the slight possibility of not losing his mind to his cores.

When Shion replied, there was some hesitation and Nezumi caught red eyes glancing over toward him. “I have but there’s been a matter of my control not being sufficient to pass requirements until recently. I would not have been accepted as a consultant or by the U.E.A.”

The man gave another look around the room, seeming to doubt Shion based on the destruction and hopefully his recounting of what had happened.

“Yeah, well, maybe it’s time you reconsidered and just took a chance on it, at least with the U.E.A. We’ve gotten good at training Chimeras, something the Devas don’t exactly have an upper hand with. Hell, I’ll vouch for you.”

Feeling like he shouldn’t let this guy get too attached to Shion, Nezumi interrupted. “Do we need to stay here, give any more statements, anything? Because we may be conscious but that doesn’t mean we’re not drained. Both of us had to use a lot of power to take care of this guy and his goons down below. We need to recover.”

The agent looked at him and seemed like he was about to ask something but then changed his mind. “As long as we have your contact information so we can follow up if necessary you can leave. There are Regens on the scene. You should get checked out, make sure there’s no serious damage from him choking you, Himura.”

Shion gave a nod with a kind smile as Nezumi moved to stand, then held his hand out to Shion and pulled him to his feet as well. He kept hold of Shion’s hand as they walked past the agent and then moved past the second agent who was hovering near the destroyed door’s frame. They continued on to the elevator, pressing the button and then stepping inside when the doors slid open. Nezumi let go of Shion’s hand and pressed the button for the lobby.

The elevator started moving and went down a few floors before Nezumi asked, “You’re not going to be treated by a Regen, are you?” He might as well have not made it sound like a question.

“No. The ones working with the Devas and U.E.A. are trained to include core checks as part of their standard examination. And I’m not hurt. There’s simply swelling and will be bruising, nothing that requires a Regen or even a doctor. I’m fine.”

“Funny, I figured that would be the answer.”

“Even if one of us needed treatment, there would be Regens working nearby and I could get close enough to Mirror them as we left and accelerate the healing on my own.”

Nezumi crossed his arms and gave Shion an irritated look. “You’re really assuming a lot. There’s plenty that could have happened, that could happen at any minute, that would mean you need a Regen. You won’t always be capable of Mirroring a Regen, won’t always have a core full on power, won’t always be awake or focused enough to manage it.”

“And we’ll need to prepare for such an event.”

“I guess that’s good you aren’t relying on our luck never running out.”

Shion looked over toward Nezumi and then stepped in close, leaning his head against Nezumi’s chest and resting his hands over Nezumi’s forearms, the closeness a comfort to them both. “I don’t see it as being as greatly a factor of luck as you appear to be. What aspect of the fight as it turned out wasn’t handled successfully because of a matter of skill on our part? Even as mistakes were made and things happened we didn’t account for, we still were able to seal and apprehend the Oni.”

Nezumi frowned, seeing where Shion was coming from but not feeling like letting the point go was the right thing to do now. “The problem is we made mistakes that could have gotten either of us killed if we didn’t have a little bit of luck on our side. And I don’t rely on luck, not when it can just as easily go in someone else’s favor.” He leaned his head down and brushed his lips against Shion’s head. “And when the one that could pay for that is you, it’s not worth it. You may be willing to sacrifice yourself for others, you idiot Deva, but that doesn’t mean I have to be. I won’t be willing to lose you and you can’t ask me otherwise. That’s a dealbreaker.”

He wished it were that easy. Because he could walk away from Shion physically all he wanted but he knew nothing would get his side of the affinity to dissipate from no longer feeling love for Shion. A part of him would always be with Shion, proving that he loved him, and Shion would always be in the corner of his mind and wrapped around his cores.

But would misery like that really be any worse than watching Shion keep on getting hurt or killed because he valued the lives of others above his own?

Yes it would be so much worse. Because at least if he was with Shion, he could do what he did today and actually be part of the reason he survived. Nezumi could be Shion’s survival instinct. He had enough of his own to spare.

The elevator doors opened and a couple were about to step on when they saw Nezumi and Shion and they paused, looking nervous. Nezumi uncrossed his arms and draped one across Shion’s shoulders, indicating for him to start walking. The couple stood to the side to give them plenty of room to pass.

They left the hotel without any incident, barely getting a glance from anyone else, though that may have been more that people were purposefully avoiding eye contact. Nezumi didn’t care one way or another. Anything that meant they were left alone was good enough for him right now.

And Shion didn’t seem to be paying attention to what was going on anyway. Nezumi could tell by how Shion moved in his hold that he was completely following along to Nezumi’s guidance. He was deep in thought and Nezumi was curious as to what had caught his focus so suddenly. But he knew better than to ask before Shion was ready to leave that headspace.

Which happened at about the time they were turning into the subway. He was suddenly looking around, like he was catching up to where they were. He stopped walking, Nezumi stopping a step later as he let his arm fall away from Shion.

“Did you use up all your power for your Qilin core?” Shion suddenly asked.

Nezumi frowned as he did a quick check. He was low on power and wouldn’t be able to form a useful barrier but with his Siren core barely used, it had already helped kickstart his Qilin core’s recovery. It would probably only take an hour or so to have enough power to make a decent barrier.

“Pretty much but recovery is quick right now,” he replied, figuring that Shion didn’t need any of those details, not with being a Chimera as well.

“I need to figure something out really quickly. We’re going to go see my mom.”

“Why Karan?” Nezumi couldn’t stop himself from asking. Shion had done so much to keep his mom separate from everything he did in relation to Oni and his cores, not wanting her to worry even though she had a better idea than Nezumi of what Shion had faced as a Deva.

“Because Safu isn’t a user and I don’t have many options.” Shion sounded frustrated about that and Nezumi wasn’t surprised. It was obviously a limitation on him right now and he didn’t like that.

“Fine, but if you’re going to give her all the gruesome details of us going after an Oni, I’m not helping out. That one’s all on you.”

Nezumi turned toward the ticket machine as Shion muttered, “No, she doesn’t need to know. I can dismiss the rough voice as getting over a cold but in a short time my neck will be bruised and I don’t want her to see that.”

Nezumi let out a sigh as he unwound his cloak from around his neck, then draped it over Shion, twisting it so it didn’t hang down too far but unable to position it like he could on himself because of their size difference. So he left it hanging off Shion’s shoulders and the hem lined up with his belt.

Most importantly, he could bunch up the material around Shion’s neck so it was covered. Because if Shion wanted to keep his mom from worrying over a bruise, Nezumi would at least make it easier to pull off. After all, he didn’t want Karan to get too worried over her son either. It wasn’t good for her health.

Once the cloak was situated, Nezumi cupped Shion’s cheeks in both hands and made sure he made eye contact. “You know she won’t ask. And if she does, she won’t press you hard enough that you’ll actually give her the whole answer.”

Shion reached up to take hold of Nezumi’s forearms but then just left his hands there, not trying to remove his touch and maintaining eye contact. Shion was struggling with what Nezumi had said, whether because he’d been called out on it or because he hadn’t actually realized that’s what he’d been doing. Either was likely when it came to Shion.

“We came to an agreement when I told her I was going to apply to the Devas. She promised that she would allow me to choose what I revealed to her concerning my cores as long as I promised to never involve her with anything related to the Devas. She left them behind for a reason, even if she’s never told me what that reason was.” Shion let out a weary sigh, his thumbs brushing absently against the skin of Nezumi’s wrist. “We’re very similar in that we have difficulty remaining uninvolved when we know of the damage being caused. And if she knew about me, about what we did today, she wouldn’t have been able to leave it alone any more than we did. And I will not be the reason she has to go back to a part of her life that she was so willing to walk away from because of me.”

“And she’d go back in an instant for you,” Nezumi mused.

“Yes. While she wouldn’t necessarily regret it as it helped me, it wouldn’t be something she would be very proud of. I just can’t do that to her, not after everything she has done for me, regardless of being my mother.”

“Then why go see her now? What exactly is the point of this?”

“There was something that happened in the hotel room against Ushikawa. I believe I know what it was but I need to test it against another user. And to test abilities against someone without their informed consent can be grounds for gaining the designation of an Oni.”

“Huh, didn’t know that one.” Nezumi dropped his hands away from Shion’s cheeks. And he figured he knew what Shion was talking about: that moment when Shion using his Dispel core had seemed to cause pain in Ushikawa. Because of course Shion had to make sure he knew exactly what his abilities did to others. If he hurt someone, it had to be on purpose.

Nezumi figured that was a combination of Shion’s uniquely gentle nature and aftereffects of destroying someone’s core by accident and being responsible for their death.

The rest of the trip to Karan’s bakery was made in silence. And when they walked through the door, Nezumi wasn’t sure if he was disappointed that it was empty of customers as usual for this time in the late afternoon or not. After all, if Karan had customers, Shion would have been more likely to let it go for now. But they were immediately Karan’s focus as her eyes lit up at seeing her son and his partner. Then about a second later, the expression dimmed as she realized something was wrong. She kept her smile as she walked over to greet them but it was cautious, anxious of what was wrong.

She hugged Shion tightly, her son leaning down enough that she could kiss his cheek. She let him go soon enough and then stepped closer to Nezumi and stood up on the balls of her feet, Nezumi finding himself leaning over so she could give him a quick kiss to his cheek.

“This is unexpected. I thought you weren’t going to be back here for another few days,” Karan remarked.

“I’m sorry but I need to ask you a favor Mom. Do you think you could close the bakery for a little while?” Shion replied, sounding hesitant.

“Yes, of course, Shion.”

“We’ll meet you up on the balcony of my old room,” Shion added as he grabbed Nezumi’s arm and led him past Karan and through the bakery to the stairs leading up to the residential area of the small building that had been Shion’s home.

He didn’t let Nezumi go until they were on the balcony, where Shion released a heavy sigh as he ran his hands roughly through his hair. “I haven’t even gotten to where I ask anything and I’m already nervous.”

“Need I remind you this was your idea?” Nezumi said as he watched Shion pace the length of the balcony.

He took the same moment to recognize that they had been through a lot on this balcony. It was the first place they had truly talked to one another, Nezumi following the strange kid who had stood up for him when everyone else was saying he was working with Oni. Even at thirteen, Nezumi had been drawn in completely by this person. And the three years they’d been apart had only made that grow stronger as Nezumi would be randomly struck with his thoughts spiraling entirely around the boy who had essentially saved him for nothing.

And then after they had reconnected and Shion had been attacked, nearly dying in the process but instead waking up stronger than ever as a Chimera with three cores, he had been out on this balcony when Nezumi had seen him activate one of his new cores for the first time. The conversations that came before and after that had been significant between them and had led Nezumi to begin to accept that this wasn’t something he’d be able to just walk away from again. That was when he’d first considered not fighting the affinity he’d been keeping from forming.

And now they had an affinity. They’d connected with each other in every way, in mind, power, and body. They relied on each other as partners, Nezumi preferring that term to something like “boyfriend” or “lover” as for him it held the implication closest to what they were to each other. Any other term just didn’t feel like it measured up to what Shion was to him, “partner” even falling short on some level but he’d decided to compromise with himself on this one.

And his partner needed him right now.

He stepped in front of Shion to stop him in his path. As it was, Shion almost didn’t stop, so deeply lost in his rising emotion as he was. He startled and his hands reflexively moved in front of him to press against Nezumi’s chest, red eyes looking up to him in his surprise.

“You’re the only one thinking this is necessary. But if you don’t calm the hell down, I’m going to call it and we head home. You’re better disciplined than this and you know that’s because it’s necessary.” He figured that little reminder would go a long way to helping Shion get a handle on himself. He was still working on training his cores to follow the new neural path and if he freaked out now, he would possibly lose some of the progress he’d made.

Damned if that was going to be something Nezumi allowed.

As it was, though, it seemed like Nezumi had said something right as Shion took in a deep breath, a meditative one he used often to center himself. And that was enough for him to recover enough of his mental fortitude and discipline for his emotions to settle and his mind to pinpoint to his usual focus.

“That’s better,” Nezumi noted with a quick smirk before his expression became serious again. “If I see you heading that way again, I call it.”

“I understand. I accept your terms,” Shion replied with a soft smile, Nezumi unable to keep from leaning down to kiss the lips that made such a pleasant expression.

They heard the door to Shion’s room open and they moved apart slightly. Karan slid the door to the balcony open and stepped out a few seconds later and looked between the two expectantly. When Shion didn’t give an explanation or at least elaborate on what he wanted, Karan spoke in prompt, “At least let me know that you aren’t hurt. You have both obviously been in a fight. And don’t think I’ve forgotten about that cloak and how Nezumi is capable of using it. It’s only nearby when he believes he’ll need it.”

“We’re not injured, nothing worse than cuts and bruises and there aren’t even many of those,” Shion replied smoothly and he wasn’t actually lying there. Anytime Shion didn’t have to lie was better for his health, Nezumi figured in amusement. “But something happened that I would like to ask for help in figuring out.”

“What is it?” Karan asked when Shion paused.

“He reacted like it hurt to have me use my Dispel core against him.”

Karan frowned at that, obviously recognizing that it had been something unusual. And Nezumi wasn’t surprised that she hadn’t needed an explanation. He figured that if it wasn’t her own experience as a Deva in play here and the Dispel core being just shy of common, then it was probable that she had researched the disposition when her son had gained it.

“You’re sure about this, that it was your Dispel core?” she asked. Nezumi figured what she was implying, that it had been a lapse in control on Shion’s part, that it had possibly been his Wraith core that he’d struck with instead. It wasn’t an unfair question either, considering that she was more aware of Shion’s struggles with his cores than his success with them.

“Yes. I was only accessing my Dispel core at the time. It was necessary because of the disposition we were facing. I don’t experience the same difficulty as I was having in controlling my dispositions now.”

Karan gave her son a kind smile. “That’s a relief,” she said and her tone reflected that. “If you are certain that it wasn’t your Wraith core interfering, what do you think it was? I’m guessing you knowing something is why you’re here.”

Shion gave his mom a fond smile. “I had timed it to Nezumi dropping a barrier. I am curious if it was an effect of the Qilin power interacting with that of the Dispel.”

Karan looked like she was considering it and Nezumi was too. He wanted to say that something like that should have happened before so that Shion would have found and read about it. Then he reminded himself that little things like that would not only rely on the person on the receiving end to be intelligent enough to figure it out like Shion had. There were a lot of steps in there for things to get lost.

Nezumi wondered absently how many new truths in the field of cores there would be by the time Shion was able to compile everything he learned and discovered.

“I don’t believe it is a matter of our affinity or anything to do with me being a Chimera, not when it had the exact effect of my Dispel core alone being used except for the pain. When it is an ability born from being a Chimera, there tends to be more of a difference in the resulting effects.”

Karan was nodding agreement and even Nezumi agreed. After all, his own ability that was most directly related to being a Chimera was how easy it was for him to turn the cloak into a Qilin barrier. And he might have more but just hadn’t experimented.

He considered talking to Shion once this all calmed down about ideas for other things he could try out, maybe find something that he could do that would make his Siren core, his birthright, be easier to use without risking Shion.

Karan’s expression shifted before she just gave her son a smile. “You want my help to see if that’s what happened.”

Shion’s cheeks flushed slightly. “It isn’t so much that I ‘want’ to but I’m not close to many users, certainly not well enough to ask something like this. And I’m only considering asking because it appeared to not cause him too much distress and he recovered quickly. And he had built up quite a bit of power when I struck out at him and I believe the sensation will be proportional. So, I would only need you to give a small charge and if I’m right, you shouldn’t experience too much discomfort while still confirming or disproving my hypothesis.”

“And if it isn’t what happened?” Karan asked.

Shion shrugged. “Then I’m wrong and the next highest likely possibility is just his disposition alone caused it.”

“I see no problem with helping you in this. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to help you with something to do with your cores.” There was a certain longing in her tone. It wouldn’t surprise Nezumi if she really did miss being able to help her son in something so simple as figuring some random thought he had about an ability. After all, with as intelligent as he was, it probably wasn’t something she got as many opportunities to do as other parents.

“Thank you, Mom. I just feel like this is something I should know the answer for.”

“Of course. Never feel like you’re wrong for wanting answers, for finding certainty, even if it seems pointless.”

It really was no surprise that Shion was so driven to problem-solve everything he could when he had his mom encouraging it so easily. She so effortlessly encouraged something that was important to Shion.

Nezumi vaguely remembered what that was like, to be given that unbiased and caring support. He’d missed out on it for so long until Shion had come back into his life.

Shion stepped up close to him in a better position for a barrier to be formed around them both. “She’s ready,” Shion declared and Nezumi wondered if he was using his Clairvoyant core to know that or if he just knew his mom.

Nezumi turned his attention to doing a quick check on his Qilin core’s power recovery and was satisfied that he had plenty to do this a few times if they needed. He gave a slight grin as he muttered to Shion, hopefully low enough that Karan wouldn’t be able to hear him clearly, “Should we consider it a lucky break that she also has an uncentered core just so there’s one less variable.”

Shion elbowed him lightly in the side but he was obviously amused.

Nezumi raised his hands in front of himself and gathered enough power to form a barrier. He was about to clasp his hands together to initiate it when Shion put his hand on Nezumi’s forearm and he paused, looking over to his partner. Shion looked thoughtful before he stepped directly in front of Nezumi, then looked up over his shoulder.

“I want to try something. I can see the state of your barrier clearer from this angle and I believe I can match the timing better.”

Nezumi smirked. “Yeah, right. I’m pretty sure you’ve smacked me for pulling the same line with you.”

Shion quickly turned to face forward again, Nezumi catching the beginning of a flush spreading across Shion’s cheeks before he couldn’t see.

Nezumi repositioned his arms, resting his elbows on Shion’s shoulders so he could continue the motion of clasping his hands together and his Qilin barrier activated. And being right next to Shion as he was, he felt Shion’s own power building as he brought his hands apart to spread the barrier around them. He let it extend just a few centimeters past them as they weren’t moving and he waited for Shion’s build to stop fluctuating.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Shion said. Nezumi looked past Shion and the barrier to Karan, making sure she was alright and seeing her watching them intently, patiently.

Nezumi had to make sure he didn’t try to alter what he did now from when he’d dropped the barrier earlier, letting his hands fall smoothly from their position holding the barrier in place. He felt the buzz of Shion’s power extend out, timed so closely to when he dropped his hands and the barrier dissolved that he swore he felt a buzz thrum through his hands and up his arms.

And Karan took in a sharp gasp, revealing that Shion had been right. Nezumi was relieved that there was only that slight show of discomfort. He hadn’t wanted to see her getting hurt any more than Shion.

She took in a deep breath, seemingly collecting herself before she focused back on her son.

“I think this can officially qualify as something born of your affinity. Because your Dispel power should have dissipated the slight charge of Qilin power there was left but instead it carried it along. And there was actually a disruption to my ability to regain access to my core. It’s not anything like getting hit with a Wraith strike, but just like I couldn’t get a handle on my core to even build it up again. It passes within a few seconds but that can be enough to turn a fight around.” She gave the two of them a smile. “The Qilin and Dispel dispositions are purely defensive. They can’t be used to attack others. And yet the connection between the two of you have overturned that. This is purely an offensive ability and the amount of power the person has built up will be the determining factor in how much of an effect it will have on them, as you thought.”

That would be handy to add to their arsenal. Too bad they hadn’t gone into the fight knowing about it or they could have used it to their advantage more effectively.

Oh well, Nezumi figured they could practice.

In the meantime, he wrapped his arms around Shion’s torso and gave him a teasing peck on the cheek. “See, we do have an affinity ability. You can stop being bothered by that.”

When Shion replied, it was about as close to a pout as Nezumi figured anyone could get. “I wanted it to be the ability to use your cloak. That would have been so cool.”

Nezumi looked over to Karan, who was holding back laughter. “Wow, he really just said that,” Nezumi mused to her.

She broke down laughing then, eventually getting out, “I knew you were a horrible influence.”

Nezumi frowned. “No need to get insulting. There’s no way this one is my fault.” He knew he was smiling even before he finished. Being around both Shion and Karan and the relief of successfully taking out the Oni that had been the reason for much of the pain he’d suffered in his life was getting to him, making him feel an elation that he didn’t think possible. These people were everything to him and he would do anything and everything for them.

A few hours later, Shion and Nezumi were lying in bed, Shion draped on top of Nezumi with his ear resting over Nezumi’s heart, his finger tapping out the rhythm of Nezumi’s heartbeat absently.

He’d been deep in thought since shortly after they’d returned home and Nezumi had gotten them relaxed in the bed so his partner could work through whatever it was comfortably and Nezumi could settle his mind by having Shion close for an uninterrupted period of time.

Eventually, Shion lifted his head and looked up at Nezumi, crossing his arms under his chin to prop himself up to see Nezumi clearly.

“It’s been a while since I brought it up to you and not just because of me suffering the effects of my cores not working correctly,” Shion began. It was actually a little surprising that his tone was so calm and confident.

“Oh yeah? And what’s that?” Nezumi replied easily enough. It wasn’t like he didn’t have any clue of what it could be, not with that opener.

“You don’t have to agree. I don’t want you to feel obligated one way or another.” Nezumi just lifted an eyebrow at Shion, letting him know he was losing points with that. “I want to apply to the User Enforcement Agency. I want to get back to being in an official position against the Oni. All that we had to consider in how we handled Ushikawa wouldn’t have mattered if we’d been working with the U.E.A.”

“Why the U.E.A. and not a consultant for the Devas?” Nezumi asked. He already knew what his answer would be either way.

“Because I still want to track down the Oni that is responsible for trying to kill me. I can’t do that as a mere consultant. As an agent, I would have access that isn’t allowed anyone working as a consultant. I would have freedom to investigate that Oni and apprehend him once he’s found.”

There was nothing for Nezumi to object to there as he was as invested in finding that asshole and dealing out some of his own revenge for that Oni trying to kill his partner, no matter that they hadn’t had an affinity at that time.

“What about your four cores?” Nezumi didn’t think today had changed Shion’s desire for secrecy about that.

“They don’t double up visually based dispositions and my record will work in my favor as not needing anyone to assist in training me. I will be allowed to start work as long as I can prove I’m adequately trained. And you would be allowed the same if you applied as my affinity partner. We wouldn’t be allowed to work separately. Furthermore, as a former Deva with more than two years experience, I should be allowed to request where I want to work, in what division, and I can ensure we aren’t working closely to any other Clairvoyant or Seer as they are the only dispositions sensitive enough to easily see four cores in me.”

“Thought this out, have you?” Nezumi pressed with a smirk.

“Many times. I just wasn’t sure if it was something you would want to commit to as well.”

Nezumi lifted his head up off the pillow and kissed Shion briefly. “I don’t care one way or another. I’m with you, Shion. If that means I’m the affinity partner of a U.E.A. agent or that I’m an agent myself working with my affinity partner, I don’t care. Whatever means I’m not sidelined in any way from you.”

Shion’s face lit up with excitement before he stretched forward to press his lips against Nezumi, his hands going to either side of Nezumi’s head to brace himself. Nezumi’s arms wrapped around Shion’s lower back and hiked his partner a little higher on his chest so they weren’t stretched out as much. They kept kissing passionately for easily a few minutes, Nezumi only easing up a little because he got the feeling that Shion had more to say and if they got too much more into it, Nezumi wouldn’t be able to easily put on the brakes.

He opened his eyes and waited until red eyes opened as well to look back. “We find one more way to ensure no one figures out your fourth core and we’ll apply. We can start working on that tomorrow.”

“Deal,” Shion replied, breathless.

Nezumi rolled them over and was about to resume kissing when Shion proved that he did still have something to say.

“It’s more than that I want to find the Oni. You are why I’m happy but I can’t just dismiss how right it felt when I was a Deva, when I was doing something with my abilities to counter people who wanted to hurt others. And what we did today, taking out an Oni together, that felt like it was where we belonged.”

Nezumi leaned down to nip at Shion’s left cheek, at the scarring, making Shion twitch away from him slightly at the tease of sensitive skin.

“Never had that passion for doing the right thing you’ve got. But, yeah, it felt good.”

And it had. While most of that was relief that they had both come out of it mostly unhurt and victorious, there was a part of Nezumi that felt satisfied at being a part of putting the lockdown on a dangerous Oni. He’d been a part of Shion’s work to make the world a bit safer.

He could get used to that.

He would get used to that. And he wouldn’t even seriously complain too much.

Sarcastically, sure, he’d complain all the time. But he would genuinely be fine with becoming an agent with the U.E.A. as long as it was with Shion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there is the end of Cloak of the Qilin. I gotta say, it was fun coming back to these two and filling in the gap between where I left them in Mist of the Siren and seeing them again in Mark of the Ouroboros. It wasn't something I'd planned to do when I started the series but then inspiration hit and I followed. And some of the things that happened here, while they aren't things that are absolutely essential to the larger series arc, they will still pop up again. And, of course, these guys still have plenty of a role to play in the aforementioned series arc.
> 
> So, thank you so much for reading. I appreciate everyone who reads, whether or not you leave a kudo or comment. I absolutely love getting kudos and comments, just I can't express how much I love that feedback, but anyone who reads and likes my work is genuinely appreciated. Thank you.
> 
> I'm already working on the next fics in the series. If you haven't read the other fics in the series and you like the world that I've created and feel so inclined, please check out the other fics even if they aren't fandoms you're familiar with. Maybe you'll find a new fandom ^_^.   
> Stay safe and I'll be back with more for this series soon.  
> Kira Dattei


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